Bismillah [IslamCity] The Enforcers

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam,
 
Interesting article, specially the highlighted area. I guess when you are a 
Muslim scholar, there is no need to worry about ethical implication.
 
Fee Amanillah.
Maqsud
 
Islamic Finance
The Enforcers
Vidya Ram04.21.08, 6:00 PM ET
Islamic finance is booming. There are at least $500 billion worth of 
Sharia-compliant assets globally, up from just $150 billion a decade ago. But 
just 20 men (and, yes, they are all men) are the gatekeepers to this lucrative 
realm. These are the top-tier Islamic scholars whose stamp of approval is 
required before the world's banks can market a new financial product as being 
consistent with Islamic law.
Why so few? First of all, it can take 15 years of studying Islamic law--and 
years more of financial training--before one can make a ruling with any 
authority. There are probably no more than 260 scholars, worldwide, that have 
the necessary knowledge. And only a handful of these have the combination of 
business savvy and linguistic skills needed to work with top-tier financial 
institutions like Citigroup, Barclays or HSBC.

It's a limited specialization with limited practitioners, and even among the 
people with the specialization only a handful are suitable for working with 
international financial institutions, said Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, a U.S.-based 
scholar who is one of the chosen few. A passing knowledge of English is 
generally not enough when a scholar has to wade through hundreds of pages of a 
prospectus or legal documents.
Additionally, major banks prefer to--and in some cases are required to--turn to 
people who are already well established.

Western institutions tend to go with big names who have been working with them 
and have built up a reputation over the past 15 or 20 years partly because 
their risk management systems require them to do so, explained Humayon Dar, 
chief executive of BMB Islamic, a London-based consultancy.
As a result, the top scholars can sit on anywhere from 10 to 40 Sharia 
compliance boards each. The limited supply of experts is reflected in their 
outsized compensation. Estimates of compensation for each board seat range from 
between $10,000 to $1 million annually, meaning top-tier scholars are likely 
earning eight-figure incomes.
They are certainly pricey by reputation but they never talk about 
remuneration, said Joseph Connolly, professor of Islamic finance at the École 
Nationale des Ponts et Chausées in Paris.

The scarcity of scholars poses major ethical challenges, argues Connolly. While 
it is not entirely unusual in the U.S.for prominent corporate executives to sit 
on multiple boards, they are not spread nearly as thin as their Islamic scholar 
colleagues. By way of comparison, there are more than 50,000 directors of 
public companies in the U.S.Just over 200, or less than one-half of 1%, sit on 
six or more boards.
If you are on the board of the bank that is bidding on a multibillion-dollar 
banking deal, which is being financed according to Sharia law, and you sit on 
the board of a competitor that is also bidding, there is a real concern about 
insider information, said Connolly.
So far the dearth of scholars doesn't seem to have held back growth of the 
industry. The banks are using these scholars very effectively, said Connolly.
Specialized consultancies such as BMB Islamic and Sharia Capital have sprung 
up, which do a large part of the groundwork on the products and help banks 
liaise with the scholars.
But with Islamic finance projected to grow to up to $1 trillion within the next 
few years, according to McKinsey  Company, an American consultancy, banks are 
very aware of the importance of bringing in new scholars. Banks would like to 
see the number of scholars double within the next year or two, said Connolly.
Rather than training new students in Islamic law, banks are pushing for finance 
programs targeted at existing Sharia scholars. Connolly will be launching a 
course in capital markets and treasury products, at the AmericanUniversityin 
Cairo, specifically targeted at Islamic scholars. The one-week intensive course 
will be held in Europe, most likely in Switzerland, this summer, with 
sponsoring banks putting up their own candidates. Connolly is expecting around 
25 scholars to take part.

We will explain complex financial instruments to them and we can leave it up 
to them to decide whether these are sinful or not, he said.
http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/21/sharia-compliance-law-islamic-finance-islamicfinance08-cx_vr_0421compliance_print.html


  

Bismillah [IslamCity] UK Jewish lawmaker: Israeli forces acting like Nazis

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam Alaikum,
Finally someone spoke the truth.
 
Also very pertinant is the statement that Israel is  ruthlessly and cynically 
exploiting the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the 
Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians.
 
The lawmaker is no fan of Hamas either and on the record, neighter am I. They 
are strongly to blame to bring misery to the Palestanian people by giving 
Israel all the excuses to brutally and ruthlessly attack all of Gaza.
 
Time has come for the world to shred all remaining guilt of inaction 
during Holocaust of WWII.
 
Because's World's inability to take any action against Israel is leading to 
another Holocaust.
 
Fee Amanillah
Maqsud
 
===
UK Jewish lawmaker: Israeli forces acting like Nazis
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Israeli military action in Gaza is comparable to that 
of German soldiers during the Holocaust, a Jewish UK lawmaker whose family 
suffered at the hands of the Nazis has claimed.
Gerald Kaufman, a member of the UK's ruling Labour Party, also called for an 
arms embargo on Israel, currently fighting militant Palestinian group Hamas, 
during the debate in the British parliament Thursday.
My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. 
A German soldier shot her dead in her bed, said Kaufman, who added that he had 
friends and family in Israel and had been there more times than I can count.
My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering 
Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.
Kaufman, a senior Labour politician who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, has 
often opposed Israeli policy throughout his career.
Israel has said it initiated the operation into Gaza -- which is controlled by 
Hamas -- to stop rocket fire on its southern cities and towns. Thirteen 
Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have died in the operation in Gaza and from 
rocket strikes on southern Israel, according to the Israeli military.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, including many civilians, 
Palestinian medics said.
During Thursday's debate, Kaufman also said that Israel needed to seek real 
peace and not peace by conquest, which would be impossible.
He also accused the Israeli government of ruthlessly and cynically exploiting 
the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust 
as justification for their murder of Palestinians.
But Kaufman added that while it is necessary to talk to Hamas, which had been 
chosen by an electorate, it nevertheless is a deeply nasty organization.
Bill Rammell, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, said 
the UK government backed an EU presidency statement calling Israeli action 
disproportionate. But he also criticized Hamas rocket attacks on Israel during 
the cease-fire between June and December 2008, adding that the militant group's 
whole ethos is one of violence and that it had made a brutal choice to step 
up attacks against innocent civilians.
Nothing, not the restrictions on Gaza nor its frustration with the peace 
process, justifies what Hamas has done and continues to do, Rammell said. In 
December, I was in Ashkelon near the Gaza border, and I heard the sirens. The 
fear was palpable: This is daily psychological and actual warfare.
Rammell added that Hamas has committed acts of terrorism, it is committed to 
the obliteration of the state of Israel, and its statement last week that it 
was legitimate to kill Jewish children anywhere in the world was utterly 
chilling and beyond any kind of civilised, humanitarian norm.
The debate came on the day that Saeed Siam, Hamas' third-ranking leader in the 
territory, was killed by an Israeli airstrike, the Islamic militant group 
reported.
The United Nations' main relief compound in the territory was also hit and set 
on fire, which U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon blamed on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed sorrow over the incident but said 
Israeli forces were responding to militant fire near the complex.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the shelling of the compound as 
indefensible, media agencies reported.
Speaking to Ban during a call, Brown said the UK would increase its calls for a 
cease-fire and also deliver aid to Gaza once a cease-fire took hold.
Britain has witnessed several demonstrations since the conflict in Gaza began 
late last month.
Last Saturday, up to 20,000 people gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in 
London, Metropolitan Police said.
Later, parts of the crowd began pelting officers with sticks, rocks and pieces 
of metal barriers, police said. A similar protest Sunday was peaceful.
Rallies were also held in London and Manchester last weekend in support of 
Israeli action against Hamas.
 
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/16/uk.israel.debate/index.html


  

Bismillah [IslamCity] Polish Jew gave his life defining, fighting genocide

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam,
What an interesting story. This man coined the word Genocide. Who would better 
to know about genocide than a Jew suffered at the hands of Hitler. Though I 
also wonder what would he have thought of the Palestine-Israeli conflict had he 
been alive. 
 
Maqsud
 
Polish Jew gave his life defining, fighting genocide
* Story Highlights 
* When Hitler exterminated Europe's Jews, the word genocide did not 
exist

* It was created by a Polish Jew whose family perished in the Holocaust

* Raphael Lemkin combined the Greek genos for race with the Latin 
-cide for killing

* He went on to fight for the U.N. treaty making genocide a crime

By Jennifer Hyde
CNN Producer
(CNN) -- Paris, 1948. In the shadow of the Holocaust, the fledgling United 
Nations meets to adopt one of its first human rights treaties.
Applause shakes the room, cameras flash -- and at the center, a single, tired, 
unassuming man: Raphael Lemkin.
It was, at last, a victory for a tireless crusader who had fought for his 
entire life against genocide -- and coined the term that describes the world's 
most heinous crime.
This new official world made a solemn pledge to preserve the life of the 
peoples and races of mankind, Lemkin later wrote.
Sixty years ago this month, the U.N. voted unanimously to adopt the Convention 
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. It was ambitious, 
serious, far-reaching -- and largely the result of Lemkin's lifetime of effort. 
Watch more about the impact of the Genocide Convention »
A Pole and a Jew, Lemkin had watched in horror as Hitler nearly succeeded in 
his plan to exterminate the Jews. Six million Jews -- including 40 members of 
Lemkin's family -- died at the hands of the Nazis.
Today, we call what happened at Auschwitz and the other death camps genocide. 
But at the time, there was no name for the Nazis' crimes. The word genocide 
did not exist.
In 1944, Lemkin wrote a book about the Nazis. In it, he combined the Greek 
genos for race with the Latin -cide for killing: Genocide. Lemkin had named 
the crime he spent a lifetime trying to prevent. Watch more about the 
importance of the word »
As a child in Poland, Lemkin was inspired by the stories his mother told him at 
the fireside -- stories of history and heroism, of suffering and struggle. As a 
Jew he witnessed cruelty and persecution firsthand: from the bribes his parents 
were forced to pay, to a pogrom that killed dozens nearby.
From his mother, and from his circumstance, Lemkin developed early a strong 
desire to better the world and protect the innocent and the weak.
The appeal for the protection of the innocent from destruction set a chain 
reaction in my mind, Lemkin later wrote. It followed me all my life.
As a teen, Lemkin learned through news accounts that the Turkish government was 
slaughtering its Christian Armenian citizens. The government claimed it was 
putting down an Armenian revolt. Over 8 years they killed a million Armenian 
men, women and children in massacres and forced marches. To this day, Turkey 
denies a genocide took place. Few of the perpetrators ever faced justice.
I was shocked, Lemkin wrote. Why is a man punished when he kills another 
man? Why is the killing of a million a lesser crime than the killing of a 
single individual?
Lemkin didn't have an answer to the question. But, as a young man, he devised a 
bold plan. He would write an international law that would punish -- and prevent 
-- racial mass murder.
By October 1933, Lemkin was an influential Warsaw lawyer, well-connected and 
versed in international law. At the same time, Hitler was gathering power. 
Lemkin knew it was time to act.
He crafted his proposal making the destruction of national, racial and 
religious groups an international crime and sent it to an influential 
international conference. But his legal remedy found little support, even as 
anti-Semitism was becoming Germany's national policy. When Hitler invaded 
Poland in 1939, Lemkin knew his worst fears were about to be realized.
Hitler had already promulgated ... his blueprint for destruction, Lemkin 
wrote. Many people thought he was bragging, but I believed that he would carry 
out his program.
Lemkin fled Warsaw with only a shaving kit and summer coat. He survived months 
in the forest, traveling furtively, dodging falling bombs and fighting for the 
Polish resistance.
He managed to reach his parents one last time -- only to say goodbye.
Do not talk of our leaving this warm home. We will have to suffer, but we will 
survive somehow, Lemkin said his parents told him. When their eyes became sad 
with understanding, I laughed away our agonizing thoughts, but I felt I would 
never see them again. It was like going to their funerals while they were still 
alive.
Reluctantly, Lemkin left his family to their fate and became one of the lucky 
few to reach the United States, where a friend arranged a job at Duke Law 
School. Though now safe, 

Bismillah [IslamCity] Disabled Iraqi children get wheelchairs, big smiles

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam alaikum,

I think we can all appreciate the humanity in the story.

Regards,
Maqsud
Disabled Iraqi children get wheelchairs, big smiles
Story Highlights
Wheelchair distribution was the vision of American contractor Brad Blauser

Humanitarian group brings the kids to a safe area so they can get the 
wheelchairs

I am sick of life, says Dad who has three children disabled from polio

Wheelchairs are made by prisoners in South Dakota, delivered by U.S. military

By Carol Jordan and Arwa Damon
CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Mothers cradle children in their arms. Fathers smile 
softly at the helpless bodies they hold. Other parents are bent over from the 
weight of their teenage kids whose legs fall limp, almost touching the ground. 
In the absence of basic medical equipment, these parents do this every day.
Khaled is a father of three. On this day, his young daughter, Mariam, is 
getting fitted for her new wheelchair. Her arms and legs are painfully thin, 
little more than skin and bone. She's 7 years old, but looks barely half that. 
She and both her siblings, a sister and brother, suffer from varying degrees of 
polio. None of them can walk.
Asked how he and his family cope, Khaled chokes up, fighting back tears.
I am sick of life -- what can I say to you? he says after a long pause.
One man, Brad Blauser, has vowed to try to make life a little easier for these 
families by organizing the distribution of wheelchairs, donated and paid for by 
his charity, Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids. He first came to Iraq in 2004 as a 
civilian contractor. Struck by the abject chaos surrounding him and seeing 
helpless children scooting along the ground, he pledged to find a way to help. 
Watch dads, moms carry kids; tears flow when wheelchairs arrive »
His first step was to consult an Army medic to find out what hospitals really 
needed. He surprised me with his answer about pediatric wheelchairs. We've got 
so many children out in the city that the ones who can get around are following 
their friends by dragging themselves around on the ground, which is 
heartbreaking to see, he says.
I was surprised. It took me aback.
Enlisting the help of generous supporters and an Iraqi humanitarian group, 
Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids was born in August of 2005. Thirty days later, its 
first 31 chairs were delivered. To date, more than 250 Iraqi families have 
received the wheelchairs.
Blauser has partnered with a nonprofit group called Reach Out and Care Wheels, 
which sells him the chairs at a manufacturing price of about $300.
The chairs are made by prisoners at the South Dakota State Penitentiary and 
ultimately delivered in Iraq by the U.S. military.
Getting these prisoners involved, it just means the world to them, said 
Andrew Babcock, the executive director of Reach Out and Care Wheels. Even the 
prisoners, I've been there and visited, and they're so excited. They come up 
with different design ideas and ways to make things better for the kids. They 
want to know where the chairs are going and what kids we're helping.
Blauser said it's unbelievable to be there when the chairs are delivered.
The most affecting thing about this whole wheelchairs for children is when the 
parents realize the gift that is being given to their children and they reach 
out to hug you. he said. The tears are running from their eyes and they say, 
'We never thought that you could do this.' 
Blauser is helped on the Iraqi missions by the civil affairs division of the 
U.S. military, which helps organize the safe transport of the families to the 
distribution point and adjustment of the wheelchairs to fit each child.
He said it gives the troops something when they go home, something good to 
remember where they know they have contributed, they know they have done a good 
thing.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Jason Jurack agrees. It brings a smile to your face. It 
really gives a different image to the Army as a whole -- helping people out, 
putting a smile on local nationals' faces, little kids that need our help.
It's a sentiment that is echoed by Samira Al-Ali, the head of the Iraqi group 
that finds the children in need. On this day, she tells the soldiers she hopes 
that this humanitarian act will give them a different image of Iraq, not one of 
a gun and war, she says. Her words are simple but effective.
I wish the world would see with their own eyes the children of Iraq and help 
the children of Iraq, because the children of Iraq have been deprived of 
everything, she said. Even a normal child has been deprived of their 
childhood; a disabled child and their family is dealing with so much more.
The children also show gratitude, even those who can scarcely move. Blauser 
remembers one boy's father who dressed him in a three-piece suit, with the 
trousers hanging off his motionless legs.
He couldn't move his legs or his arms. But when we sat him in his chair, he 
gave us the thumbs up.
Iraqi parents will go to any lengths to improve the quality of their 

Bismillah [IslamCity] Israel bars aid convoy to Gaza

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam,
The below news is not only about state of Isral barring aid convoy, but also 
about many Israelies wanting to help people in Palestine. 

Maqsud

Israel bars aid convoy to Gaza 
By Rachel Shabi at the Erez crossing, Gaza-Israel border








 


Israeli peace groups have braved the cold and rain at the Erez crossing  [EPA]


The Israeli military has prevented an aid convoy organised by Israeli human 
rights organisations, peace activists, and former military personnel, from 
reaching needy families in the besieged Gaza Strip.
 
Israeli groups braved dipping temperatures and the unusually rain-sodden 
grounds of the Erez border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip on 
Saturday, hoping that Israeli authorities would allow five tonnes of food 
through.
 
As of Monday, the Gaza-bound supplies, comprising non-perishable goods, are 
still warehoused at Kibbutz Kerem Shalom on the southern border of the Gaza 
strip, awaiting army clearance to cross into the strip.
 
Adam Keller, of Gush Shalom, an Israel-Palestine peace bloc, said: We are 
still in negotiations with the army and are trying to mobilise Knesset members. 
We have an appeal to the supreme court that is ready to be lodged. We hope it 
will not come to that, but will use it if necessary.   
 
The Israeli supreme court is already considering a wider appeal made last week 
by Israeli humanitarian organisations, asking that the court compels the 
government to lift its blockade on Gaza. 
 
Israeli, Palestinian unity
 
The Israeli and Palestinian peace activists first arrived at the Erez crossing 
in a convoy of about 100 cars and 20 buses that wound its way from Israel's 
main cities to the border on Saturday.
 
Travelling under the End the Siege! banner, the convoy brought about 1,000 
demonstrators and five tonnes of food aid to the border.
 

Saturday's peace protests came from what in
Israel is known as the 'radical left' [AFP]
In the past 10 days Israel had tightened a seven-month blockade of the strip, 
halting supplies of foodstuffs, medical equipment and fuel.
 
The Israeli government describes the siege as a response to rocket fire into 
southern Israel from Gaza, but human rights groups see it as collective 
punishment.
 
Saturday's peace activists came from what in Israel is known as the radical 
left, groups such as Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc), the International Committee 
Against House Demolitions, the Coalition of Women for Peace and the 
Arab-Israeli Balad and Hadash parties.
 
The action at Erez ran in tandem with a protest in Gaza City, where some 200 
demonstrators gathered and were connected to Israeli demonstrators via speeches 
broadcast in both directions through mobile phones.
 
Organisers had planned that Israelis and Gazans would protest within eye 
distance of each other -with the former group located on a nearby Israeli 
hilltop enabling line-of-sight vision with the latter group - but this proposal 
was rejected by the Israeli army, citing security reasons.
 
Making his way to the Erez border from Jerusalem, Reuben Moskovitz, 79, a 
self-defined veteran campaigner, said: I am glad to see today that the Israeli 
peace movement is still alive and there are still people ready to make an 
outcry against this huge crime against humanity, against international law and 
against peace that is being committed in Gaza.
 
Symbolic gesture
 
Demonstrators of a different generation were of the same mind.
 
We just thought that the blockade of Gaza is wrong, that starving people and 
preventing them from having basic human rights like food, fuel and water is not 
the solution, said Rachel Aharoni, 17, from Tel Aviv.
 

Demonstrators brought two lorry-loads of
food and provisions to the Erez border [AFP]
Arab-Israeli protesters were also a prominent presence at the crossing.
 
It is so painful for me to see this reality in Gaza, as a mother and as a 
human being, and not to do anything, said Arees Sabbagh, 28, from Nazareth. I 
see it as a human obligation to come today.
 
Demonstrators brought two lorry-loads of food and provisions to the Erez 
border, which the campaigners expect to cross on Monday morning.
 
We don't believe that this is going to solve the problem in Gaza, says Amit 
Ramon, one of the organisers.
 
It is intended to be symbolic.
 
The goods in part comprise parcels made up by individual demonstrators bearing 
hand-written notes to their recipients.
 
Praising the breach
 
Several of the speakers at the Erez crossing on Saturday praised Gazans on 
breaching the Rafah border last week, while condemning both Qassam rocket 
attacks from the strip on the Israeli border town of Sderot and Israeli 
military attacks on Gaza.
 
Eyad Sarraj, founder of the Gaza Community Mental Health programme, spoke from 
Gaza City by mobile phone and his voice was amplified on the Israeli side of 
the crossing.
 
I am deeply honoured and proud to have the chance to talk to you, he told the 
Israelis.
 
Every drop of blood shed in 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Youssif: A Tale of Horror and Compassion

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salaam Alaikum,
I am sure some of you have heard the story of 5 year old Youssif, an Iraqi boy 
who was playing outside when few masked men grabbed him and put gasoline on him 
and set him on fire. No one has been arrested and the motive remains unknown. 
To read the full story please visits the link below.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/22/iraq.boy/index.html
Ever since the story broke at cnn.com, there was outpouring of support for 
Youssif. 
Eventually The Children's Burn Foundation -- a non-profit organization based 
out of Sherman Oaks, California, that provides support for burn victims 
locally, nationally and internationally -- has agreed to pay for the 
transportation for Youssif and his family to come to the United States and to 
set up a fund so everyone can donate. 
This is certainly a very nice gesture by the Foundation and this isn’t the 
first time they have reached out to help children from other countries. 
The news has created a lot of enthusiasm at the Foundation and I have found a 
blog of an employee of the Foundation 
(http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/23/191335/703) and this is what was 
written there:
“We also are trying to find a host family where Youssif and his father can stay 
during the course of his treatment. Anyone in the L.A. area know of a family 
that speaks Arabic and would be interested in hosting? The Burn Foundation 
typically provides a monthly stipend for the host family to defray the 
additional expense of having extended house guests.”
Hopefully a Muslim family will step in and become the host family as this would 
make things so much easier for the Iraqi family to assimilate in US. 
Now, the news itself is fascination and news worthy. However I am more 
intrigued by the humane nature of the whole story. We are living in a world 
where there are so much hatred, apprehension, and confusion, and fueled by both 
military and propaganda war, cultural war and along the lines of religion, 
sectarian and regional, to see a story where everyone can rise up above our 
“petty” national, ethnic, religious and sectarian differences is really heart 
warming. This clearly shows our potential as humans and as God’s vicegerent on 
earth. 
There shouldn’t be any doubt in anyone’s mind about the genuine and sincere 
nature of people’s outpouring of support. 
Just note the below comments from the CNN news. 
“CNN.com users responded by the thousands to the story asking how they could 
help.”
“The story -- published and broadcast on Wednesday -- has been one of the 
most-read, non-breaking news stories in CNN.com's 12-year history.”
“We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for Youssif and his 
family, and are grateful that the Children's Burn Foundation and the Grossman 
Burn Center have volunteered to help, said Mitch Gelman, CNN.com's senior vice 
president and senior executive producer.”
I believe this is clearly what Allah had in mind, when He revealed in Quran, 
for humans to strive/compete with each other in doing goodness: 
2:149 (Abdullah Yusuf Ali) Strive together (as in race) towards all that is 
good. 
5:48 (Abdulla Yusuf Ali) If Allah had so willed, he would have made you a 
single people but (His plan is) to test you in what he has given you, so strive 
as in a race in all virtues. 
We need to ask ourselves as Muslims; are we winning or losing in this race 
toward in doing goodness with our other fellow human beings? 
Fee Amanillah
Maqsud 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamicminds
==
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Few stories have touched CNN.com users like that of 
5-year-old Youssif, an Iraqi boy who had gone out to play on a January day when 
he was suddenly grabbed by masked men, doused in gas and set on fire.
CNN.com users responded by the thousands to the story asking how they could 
help. But there were tricky and difficult issues the family had to suddenly 
confront, as several aid organizations quickly offered their services.
Specifically, the family had to make a decision on whether to leave their 
homeland or stay inside Iraq for treatment. If they chose to leave, could they 
get visas to travel to the United States or leave Iraq safely? Further 
complicating matters is the fact that few aid organizations remain in Iraq; 
most moved out months ago due to the constant threat of being targeted.
Leaving one's homeland is never an easy choice to make, even during war. But 
the family has decided Youssif should seek treatment in the United States.
The Children's Burn Foundation -- a non-profit organization based out of 
Sherman Oaks, California, that provides support for burn victims locally, 
nationally and internationally -- has agreed to pay for the transportation for 
Youssif and his family to come to the United States and to set up a fund so you 
can donate. 
The foundation says it will cover all medical costs -- from surgeries for 
Youssif to housing costs to any 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Borat, Kazakhstan and Nuclear Arms

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salaam Alaikum,
Many of you must have heard of the movie Borat. In the movie, Borat Sagdiyev is 
a fictional Kazakh journalist portrayed by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. 
The movie went on to become a super hit, at the expense of Kazakhstan. I only 
got to see portion of the movie, before my wife broke the DVD in half! 
Considering that she is from neighboring Uzbekistan, I can understand her 
reaction. (Though I have been tempted to buy the DVD and watch again)
 
The movie put Kazakhstan in world map, though not in the way Kazakh’s would 
have preferred. The Kazakh govt. started a world wide criticism of the movie 
and how Kazakhstan is NOT how the movie portrays it to be, especially because 
they have been trying to attract foreign investment of late. 
 
The movie itself is a comedy and no one should “learn” about another nation by 
just watching comedy, fictional or thriller movies. (Unless you are watching a 
movie like Gandhi of course). But so often we know so little about others, that 
just by watching movie or TV program, we try to draw our conclusion. When I was 
teaching at a private university, my students asked me ridiculous questions 
about US simply based on movie or TV show. This is not different in US either; 
while watching a Hindi movie, an American friend of mine seriously asked us 
(along with some other friends from India) if couples really dance and sing 
like this in public back home. Our answer was of course, this is the only way 
you can attract opposite sex. (We were only kidding). 
 
So why talking about Borat and Kazakhstan? 
I just learned something new today about Kazakhstan that I didn’t learn from 
Borat. 
 
Did you know when the Soviets started their nuclear testing in 1949 they chose 
eastern Kazakhstan as its testing ground? The testing continued till August 29, 
1991. What happened during these decades of testing is a tale of horror of 
unimaginable proportion. 
 
This should server as a reminder for those who crave nuclear arsenal. But more 
importantly, remind everyone how cruel and barbaric the Soviet regime was; and 
sadly how so many Muslim nations lined them up behind the Soviets. No wonder so 
many of the Muslim nations turned out to be so autocratic, authoritarian and 
brutal like the Soviets.  
 
I sincerely hope, Muslims who think that Russia might be their savior in their 
fight against the “west” will rethink about their alliance. 
 
Lest not also forget, what Soviet and Russia did to the vast Muslim region of 
central Asia. 
 
Fee Amanillah
Maqsud

 
*
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their 
experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. CNN's 
Matthew Chance was given rare access to Kazakh villages where above-ground 
nuclear tests have left generations scarred. Here, he describes what he saw for 
CNN.com.
SEMEY, Kazakhstan (CNN) -- Kazakhstan's nuclear orphans are a distressing sight.
The first child I met in the local orphanage was lying limply in his crib. His 
giant, pale head was perched on his tiny shoulders, covered in bed sores, like 
a grotesquely painted paper-mâché mask. Peering out, a pair of tiny black eyes 
darted around.
It took me a few seconds to understand what I was seeing. The doctor told me he 
was 4 years old.
Through the bars in the next crib, I saw another child, twisted with 
deformities. His fragile legs and arms turned in impossible contortions.
These are the children of Kazakhstan's terrifying nuclear past.
Decades of Soviet nuclear testing unleashed a plague of birth defects. When the 
Soviet Union tested its nuclear devices, it chose eastern Kazakhstan, one of 
its remotest, most desolate areas. But no one bothered to evacuate the people 
living there. 
The testing began in 1949 at a site known as Polygon and continued until 1989. 
According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, there were 456 tests, including 116 
nuclear bombs tested above ground. The Polygon site officially closed on August 
29, 1991 -- 16 years ago this week.
Local officials say there were hundreds of thousands of people, possibly as 
many as a million, who lived in the region during the nuclear testing. The end 
of the Cold War might have ended this dark chapter, but thousands are still 
paying a terrible price. 
From the old Soviet city of Semipalatinsk, now renamed Semey, it was a long 
grueling drive across the barren, flat Kazakh plain. Nature can be hostile 
here, with temperatures hitting over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer, then 
plunging to 40 below in winter.
The people living in the villages scattered throughout this former nuclear 
testing zone have been through the unspeakable. Seriqkaisha is 62 years old. 
She remembers watching the mushroom clouds as a child.
We were very frightened, she told me, because the windows in our house would 
blow out and the walls would shake. My parents both died 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Pakistan's 'silent majority' welcomes mosque raid

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Pakistan's 'silent majority' welcomes mosque raid
Afp, Islamabad

The army raid on a pro-Taliban mosque has raised fears of an extremist backlash 
in Pakistan, but many in the country's so-called silent majority say the 
government was right to act anyway. 
While hardliners have been able to stir up anger each time President Pervez 
Musharraf moves against them, most people in Pakistan have traditionally been 
tolerant Muslims -- and many oppose the militant drive to install Islamic law. 
For many of the one million people in the capital Islamabad, the raid -- the 
deadly climax of a three-month standoff with radicals -- has restored an uneasy 
calm despite a lingering fear of revenge attacks. 
Never before has Islamabad seen anything like this, nor should it be allowed 
in future, said garment shop owner Mohammad Siddiq. We are all Muslims, but 
that doesn't give a few clerics the right to teach us Islam. 
The standoff at the Red Mosque, less than two kilometres (one mile) from the 
presidential palace, began in April when chief cleric Maulana Muhammad Abdul 
Aziz set up a religious court to bring the capital under Islamic law. 
In the final battle with radicals holed up in the mosque, firebrand cleric 
Abdul Rashid Ghazi died in a hail of bullets while militant snipers fired at 
soldiers from the minarets and booby-trapped the compound. 
In recent weeks, his radical students, including bearded talibs and women in 
burqas, had abducted Chinese women they accused of prostitution and harassed 
shops selling Western DVDs in the city, which is among Pakistan's most liberal. 
These people were making life difficult for everyone and that, too, in the 
name of Islam, said Mehreen Shah, a housewife. They should not have been 
given such liberty in the first place. 
Enlightened people were under threat from bearded militants -- whether they 
are video shop owners, beauty parlours or even school and college girls. 
A female student who asked not to be named said: How can you allow someone to 
start running around and enforcing Sharia the way Ghazi was, through 
kidnappings, threats and attacks? 
Reacting with fury to the massive raid, al-Qaeda's global deputy commander 
Ayman al-Zawahiri has called for holy war, saying in a new Internet posting: 
Muslims of Pakistan, your salvation is only through jihad. 
But many members of Pakistan's silent majority of moderate Muslims would prefer 
to just get on with life after a traumatic week that saw plumes of smoke 
billowing above the Pakistani capital. 
It's a sad end but life may return to normal in one or two days, which is good 
news for a poor person like me, said taxi driver Rahim Shah, who has 
manoeuvred around road blocks and police checkpoints for more than a week. 
If half the city is under curfew and the other half under construction, it 
affects your business, even if you're a taxi driver. 
The guns have fallen silent for now, but many residents said the battle and 
Ghazi's death had escalated tensions and predicted it would embolden those who 
are fighting to turn their country into a hardline Islamic state. 
I don't agree with his style of politics, said college student Umer Farooq of 
the dead cleric. But he has certainly become a symbol of defiance and did not 
surrender despite the odds against him. 

http://thedailystar.net/2007/07/13/d707134303117.htm


 

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Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Palestinian faction threatens to overrun rivals

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam alaikum,
I have not noticed much posting (at all in some groups that I have checked) of 
the fighting between Hamas and Fatah in Palestine. I guess it is ok when 
Palestinians kill each other by 100's. I am sure the reaction would have been 
much different when Israel does the same thing. Or simply, many would just 
blame Israel for everything. You might say, if there was no occupation of 
Palestine, then this fight would never take place. I would argue, this would 
have taken place regardless, even if Palestine was a free country.

It is really shameful what is happening in Palestine. Let get one thing clear; 
Hamas/Fatah can never beat Israel, at least military war fare. I am not sure 
what Hamas is trying to accomplish by killing Fatah members. Below news is from 
yesterday, but a lot has happened since then. Hamas killed many more Fatah 
members today. I hope they are happy, because this is all they can do, they are 
not capable of fighting against the Israeli army face to face.

Hamas is proving to be a ruthless, violent and terrorist organization.
This is just the beginning. Soon, Hamas will impose their version of Islam on 
others.
This has got nothing to do with being occupied by Israel. This would have 
happened regardless.

We should all denounce Hamas terrorism and this new Palestinian-on-Palestinian 
violence.

 Maqsud
==





GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Factional fighting in Gaza escalated Tuesday with Hamas 
fighters warning Fatah foes to leave their bases in Gaza or risk their lives.

Hamas militants patrol the streets of Gaza City on Tuesday.
more photos »

The message from Hamas' militant wing, Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was 
delivered over Hamas radio and television.
The battle for control of Gaza -- between the old-line Fatah Party headed by 
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister 
Ismail Haniya, whose Hamas party dominates parliament -- also threatened to 
break apart the Fatah-Hamas unity government of the Palestinian territories.
Hamas fighters in Gaza trained their weapons on the the headquarters of the 
Fatah-aligned Preventive Security Service, announcing over a loudspeaker, the 
warning which we have given you to surrender has ended, and we will attack this 
position of Zionist collaborators, The Associated Press reported.
We received orders at the highest level to defend ourselves, the AP quoted 
one officer inside the headquarters as saying.
More than 80 killed since May
The call for Fatah forces to leave their bases came just hours after 
rocket-propelled grenade fire struck Haniya's house on Tuesday morning, the 
Hamas media office reported. There were no injuries.
The Hamas leader lives in the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City. 
Tuesday's attack was the second in two days.
At least 15 people have died in fighting between Hamas and rival Fatah factions 
since Monday morning, according to Fatah's secretary in Gaza. More than 80 
people have been killed since the latest round of factional fighting flared in 
May.

Before the attack on Haniya's home, Hamas gunmen killed Jamal al-Jediyan, the 
top Fatah official in northern Gaza, Fatah sources said. His brother and cousin 
also died in the attack.
Later Tuesday morning, Hamas gunmen surrounded the home of Fatah spokesman 
Maher Mekdad. His fate was not immediately known.

Students kept from classes
Also Tuesday, continued violence made it impossible for students to attend 
final exams, keeping 77,000 out of class.
Hamas fighters also destroyed the equipment at a Fatah-controlled TV station, 
according to a CNN journalist who witnessed the incident.
The internal violence between Fatah and Hamas has highlighted the weaknesses of 
the Palestinian unity government formed earlier this year.
Fatah forces are loyal to Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president. Hamas, an 
Islamic fundamentalist group, came to power in parliamentary elections in 
January 2006 after more than a decade of Fatah rule over the Palestinian 
Authority.
The leaders of both groups have called for calm, but security forces for each 
side have continued to battle in an attempt to control Gaza.
There have been numerous attempts to broker a cease-fire.




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Boycott Israel [IslamCity] PBS INTERVIEW With Sheik Hamza Yusuf

[Maqsud Sobhani]

INTERVIEW With Sheik Hamza Yusuf

Sheik Hamza Yusuf (Photo courtesy of the Zaytuna Institute)
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, and I think that's really what 
we're dealing with here, incompetence. Both sides have been incredibly 
ineffective at achieving their goals - at least their stated goals.”
Hamza Yusuf was born in Washington State and grew up in Northern California, 
where he lives with his wife and five children. He converted to Islam in 1977 
and spent 10 years studying Islam in the Middle East where he followed a more 
classic interpretation of the religion. After the attacks of 9/11, Yusuf 
emerged as a respected Islamic scholar, advising both the White House and the 
Arab League. In recent years, he has focused his teachings on bridging the 
widening gap between the West and the Muslim world. In this interview, he talks 
about tyranny and incompetence on both sides and offers his prescription 
for creating more common ground. This is an edited transcript of an interview 
that took place in September 2006.
Q: Linden MacIntyre: What are the roots of Muslim rage?
A: Hamza Yusuf: If you had one word to describe the root of all this rage, it's 
humiliation. Arabs in particular are extremely proud people. If you look at 
what happened in Lebanon recently, the Arabs kind of raised their head-- they 
think it's a big victory, the fact that their whole country was destroyed and 
over a thousand people were killed, many of them children. Why is it a victory? 
Because they fought back. That's all. OK, you can crush us into the Earth, but 
you're not going to get us to submit. And I think that's deeply rooted in 
Muslim consciousness, the idea of not submitting to anything other than God. 
You can abuse me, but you're not going to win me over. But if you treat me 
with respect and dignity, I'm going to fall in love with you. I'm going to sing 
your praises all over the world because you're powerful and you treated me with 
human dignity.
Q: Where do they see the proof of the humiliation?
A: It's everywhere. You don't think it's humiliating to have a foreign force 
come into your land? You see, Muslims don't have this nation state idea. 
There's a tribe called Bani Tamin. It's one of the biggest tribes in Saudi 
Arabia and in Iraq, and they're intermarried. The West doesn't seem to 
understand that. The Moroccans feel the Iraqi pain as their own. It's one pain. 
So when you see some American soldier banging down a door and coming into a 
house with all these women in utter fear who've done nothing, that's 
humiliation, and it's going to enrage people. And what are we doing there? 
There are no weapons of mass destruction. They were never a threat to us. You 
know, Shakespeare wrote a play called Julius Caesar, and it was all about the 
danger of pre-emptive strikes. Brutus is convinced by Cassius to kill Caesar. 
Why? Because Caesar's ambitious, because he might declare himself king. And the 
end of that play, everybody dies; it's just disaster. That's the tragedy of
 pre-emptive strikes.
Q: What goes through your mind when you hear about all these roundups of young 
Muslims who are supposedly plotting things in London and in Toronto?
A: We keep being told about these roundups, and in the end, they're more 
aspirational than operational. I'd love to have been in the meeting when they 
thought that one up. It seems to me that they're just a lot of bumbling fools 
out there.
Q: On which side of the equation?
A: On both sides. I mean, that's part of the problem. Violence is the last 
refuge of the incompetent, and I think that's really what we're dealing with 
here, incompetence. Both sides have been incredibly ineffective at achieving 
their goals-- at least their stated goals.
Q: I'm trying to get a measure of just how concerned people should really be 
though.
A: Listen, hurricanes are a much greater threat to us right now. Katrina did 
much more damage than anything the terrorists could ever put together. Yeah, 
there's nuclear weapons are out there and that certainly is a concern. That's 
the job of these intelligence people to stop that, right? But stop making us 
all live in fear and telling us about orange and red levels. All that nonsense 
just simply has to stop. We need to calm down and think at a deeper level. 
People can't think when their minds are clouded with fear. The fear tactic is a 
tactic that's used by people who want to maintain control, and it's very 
effective.
A democracy is predicated on an educated citizenry. You cannot have a democracy 
with people that are more interested in what Nicole Kidman is doing or whoever 
the latest fashion model is. If that's your interest, democracy can't survive. 
You also have corporate interests here. We have an arms industry in the West 
that is our No. 1 industry. It's bigger than anything-- automobiles, 
everything. Now if you don't have reasons to build weapons, where do all those 
contracts go?
Q: Your job is to recruit young 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Makkah Declaration on the Iraqi Situation

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Makkah Declaration on the Iraqi Situation 
11/30/2006 - Political Religious Social - Article Ref: IC0611-3172
Number of comments: 3
Opinion Summary: Agree:3  Disagree:0  Neutral:0 
By: Muslim scholars
IslamiCity* - 



About 50 Iraqi Muslim scholars representing the country's Shia and Sunni 
communities met on October 19, 2006, at the royal palace in Makkah, Saudi 
Arabia that overlooks the Ka'aba, Islam's holiest site, and signed an edict 
(Fatwa) making attacks on Muslims in Iraq a sin. 
MAKKAH AL-MUKARRAMAH DECLARATION 
ON THE IRAQI SITUATION
Praise and Glory be to Almighty God, and May His Peace and Blessings be Upon 
His Prophet Mohamed and all his Kin and Companions
In view of the present situation in Iraq, where bloodshed is widespread, and 
where aggression on assets and property, perpetrated under the guise of Islam, 
is daily occurrence, and in response to the invitation of the Secretary-General 
of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and under the umbrella of 
the OIC International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA),

We the scholars of Iraq, from both the Sunnis and the Shiites, having met in 
Makkah Al-Mukarramah in Ramadan of the Lunar Hijra year of 1427H (2006) and 
deliberated on the situation in Iraq and the disastrous plight of the Iraqi 
people, issue and proclaim the following Declaration:
The Muslim is he who professes his faith by bearing witness that there is no 
God but Allah and that Mohamed is His Prophet. These fundamental principles 
apply equally to the Sunnis and the Shiites without exception. The common 
grounds between the two schools of thought are many times more than areas of 
difference and their causes. Any difference between them are merely differences 
of opinion and interpretation and not essential differences of faith or on the 
substance of the Pillars of Islam. From the Islamic Shari'a viewpoint, no one 
follower of either schools may excommunicate, hereticate, or in any other way 
cast aspersions on the faith and fidelity of a follower of the other school, on 
the grounds that God's Prophet (PBUH) said:

If ever one of you calls his brother: You infidel, one of them shall come out 
the infidel and bear the onus thereof!. 
The blood, property, honor, and reputation of Muslims is sacrosanct on the 
grounds of the noble verses of the Holy Quran, in which Almighty God says: 

And whoever deliberately and with premeditation kills a believer, his 
recompense is Hell to abide therein, and the Wrath and the Curse of God are 
upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for him;

and the immaculate Tradition of the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH), which says: 

Everything pertaining to the Muslim is sacrosanct, including his blood, 
property, honor, and reputation. 

Therefore, no Muslim, whether he or she is Shiite or Sunni, may be subject to 
murder or any harm, intimidation, terrorization, or aggression on his property; 
incitement thereto; or forcible displacement, deportation, or kidnapping. 
Moreover, no member of his family may be held hostage on grounds of religious 
or sectarian belonging. Whoever perpetrates such acts shall fall from the fold 
and grace of the whole Ummah, including all Muslim authorities, scholars, and 
all believers. 
All houses of worship are sacrosanct, including mosques and the non-Muslim 
houses of worship of all faiths and religions. Therefore, these places of 
worship may not be attacked, appropriated, or in any other way used as a haven 
to perpetrate acts in contravention of our Magnanimous Shari'a. Instead, they 
should remain entirely at the disposal of their owners who should regain total 
and unfettered access to them in application of the Muslim jurisprudential rule 
adopted by all Islamic schools that:

All religious endowments and Awqaf shall be subject to the terms and 
conditions established by their owners that: a condition stipulated by the 
Donor shall be treated just as a Shari'a rule; and that: That which is part 
of practice and custom shall be deemed as a contractual provision. 
The crimes committed on sight on grounds of sectarian identity or belonging, 
such as those now being perpetrated in Iraq, fall within the ambit of 
wickedness, and mischief on the earth, which was prohibited and proscribed by 
Almighty God when He said: 

When he turns his back, His aim everywhere is to spread mischief through the 
earth and destroy crops and cattle. But God loveth not mischief.

The espousal of a school of thought, whatever it may be, is not a justification 
for killing or aggression, even if some followers of that school commit a 
punishable act since:

A bearer of burdens cannot bear another's burdens. 
Any provocation of sensitivities or sectarian, ethnic, geographical, or 
linguistic strife should be shunned and averted. Similarly, any name-calling, 
abuse, or vilification and invectives uttered by any one party in attack on 
another should be avoided in view of the express prohibition by the Holy Quran, 
which labeled such 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Shia Sunni burning Iraq

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Shia  Sunni burning Iraq 
11/30/2006 - Political Religious Social - Article Ref: IC0611-3173
Number of comments: 7
Opinion Summary: Agree:4  Disagree:1  Neutral:2 
By: Dr. Aslam Abdullah
IslamiCity* - 



The daily destruction of human life in Iraq has reached a level that is now 
described as a civil war. Much of the current killing is brought on by Muslims 
against fellow Muslims. Shias and Sunnis are dangerously armed and killing each 
other with impunity. Various interest groups who have everything to gain from 
the prevailing chaos are also joining the killing spree overtly or covertly.

People blame the US occupation for the killing and justifiably the argument can 
be made that all the bloodshed could have been avoided if the US had not 
invaded Iraq and had tried to work out alternatives to change the regime in 
Iraq. Mr. Bush and his war fanatic cabinet members  Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld 
 have failed in their war. Their incompetence and reckless ideology has 
resulted in the ongoing slaughter of innocent people unabated and unchecked. 
Needless to say, history will recognize these people as perpetrators of this 
century's first biggest bloodbath.

But part of the blame has to be shared by some of those who claim to be the 
leaders of Sunnis and Shias in Iraq as well as other leaders in the Middle 
East. These people must also be held accountable for spreading lies and hatred.

Doubtlessly, the religious discourse amongst many of those who identify 
themselves as Shias or Sunnis is ugly and inhumane. Judged from the Islamic 
criterion of decency, it is unacceptable. Analyzed from the perspective of 
Prophetic traditions, it is unimaginable. Yet, the sectarian bigotry has taken 
the hatred to a level, where many have tried to justify the killing of others 
on religious grounds. 

Many Scholars are afraid to speak up either because they are afraid or because 
they want to be politically correct. One has to admit loudly and clearly that 
there are many among the Sunnis and Shias that behave towards each other in a 
manner that is against Islamic ethics. Many of them hurt each other, humiliate 
each other and denounce others as non-Muslims. Many of them are arrogant. Many 
of them have total disregard of the life of the other. In their hatred they are 
willing to destroy everything that comes in their way including, the Quran or 
Islamic places of worship. 

Some of the Shia and Sunni leaders promote a notion of loyalty to their sect 
that could be considered bordering on polytheism. Violence is considered as a 
norm rather than a deviation to resolve their differences. Sometime, to make a 
statement of political correctness they shake hands with each other and issue 
statements of unity, but when most retire to their supporters, they speak a 
different language, a language that is insulting and un-Islamic. It is these 
issues that the majority of Shia and Sunni leaders have refused to address.

What is happening in Iraq can be traced back to a deep rooted hatred and 
suspicion that has been created by a hateful preaching of decades or even 
centuries?

The majority of the leadership of the two sects has failed to address some of 
the most fundamental Islamic and human issues. Must human-beings be killed 
because they differ with someone's opinion? Must people always humiliate, and 
denounce the other in order to prove their supremacy. Must the other be 
condemned to death for adopting a different point of view? Must religious 
identity be expressed in an arrogant and violent manner? Is this the way we 
please God by hurting and killing His creation?

Unless the religious leadership of the two sects take an aggressive approach to 
develop an Islamic response based on the teachings of the Quran and the 
Prophet, they will continue to remain the prisoners of history as is the case 
presently. They have a window of opportunity to discuss these and other related 
issues in the context of Iraq sooner rather than later. Both can play a dynamic 
role in bringing the two sects together and helping them overcome their 
differences.
MAKKAH AL-MUKARRAMAH DECLARATION 
ON THE IRAQI SITUATION
Click Here to Read
It was encouraging to see Sunni and Shia religious leaders meet on October 19, 
2006 in the holy city of Makkah. The leaders made a plea together for an end to 
sectarian bloodshed, especially in Iraq. The meeting was organized by the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference and backed by Saudi Arabia. 
Unfortunately the effect of the meeting has been limited.

Meeting just once and making statements against violenceis not enough. There 
needs to be a sincere will and sustained approach to resolve the Sunni and Shia 
conflict. Leaders from Iraq, Iran and other parts of the world should meet on a 
regular basis to address the ongoing conflict in Iraq. They must go back to the 
most basic massage of the Quran about the dignity of the children of Adam that 
cannot be preserved without ensuring their right to 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] My Name Is Rachel Corrie

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikum and Ramadan Kareem,
Well, My name isn't Rachel Corrie. But I hope many of you remember her. Below is an interesting article about a one person play based on her writing. The US opening of the show had to be cancelled due to pressure from jewish groups! 
Maqsud



A Controversial Death Provokes a Controversial Play 
A monologue fashioned from the words of a woman killed in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict creates drama on-stage and off
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Cathleen McGuigan 
Newsweek

Updated: 4:41 p.m. ET Oct. 16, 2006



Oct. 16, 2006 - Do you remember the name Rachel Corrie? Maybe not. She was a 23-year-old American peace activist killed by an Israeli Army bulldozer as she tried to block the destruction of a Palestinian’s house in Gaza in March 2003. She became more than a footnote in the Middle East conflict when her own words—from her journals and e-mails—were shaped into an award-winning one-actor play in London called “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” But when the show’s U.S. opening last spring was cancelled at the New York Theater Workshop (best known for spawning the musical “Rent”), a controversy erupted. The theater’s artistic director had made his decision after talking to leaders in the Jewish community; he later told The New York Times, “It seemed as though if we proceeded, we would be taking a stand we didn’t want to take.” The London producers called the cancellation “censorship.”
With that advance drum roll, “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” finally opened last weekend at the intimate Minetta Lane Theater in Greenwich Village, brought here by new producers. And here’s the good news: the play is hardly a political diatribe. Artfully adapted (by actor/director Alan Rickman and journalist Katharine Viner), it’s about a passionately idealistic young woman, whose childhood causes included ending world hunger and saving the spotted owl. If that sounds painfully earnest, here’s even better news: Corrie was a lovely and powerful writer—charming, quirky, funny, and given to painting strong images in a memorable voice. We spend the first 40 minutes of the 90-minute show just getting to know her, in her messy red-painted bedroom in Olympia, Washington. As engagingly portrayed by Megan Dodds, her blond ponytail bounces as her quick mind moves from salmon swimming in city pipes to helping the
 homeless to philosophizing on life and death. “My mother would never admit it,” she announces cheerfully, “but she wanted me exactly as I turned out—scattered, deviant and LOUD.”
When Rachel lands in Gaza to join a group of international protestors, her nerve and idealism are tested, as she encounters curfews, checkpoints, gunfire and even helps recover a dead body from a field as an Israeli tank fires close by. Her writing grows grim. She still makes lists in her journal as she did before, but the lists sound like this: “In Dr. Samir’s garden. Fig tree…Dill, lettuce, garlic. White plastic chairs, deflated soccer ball…Two bulldozers, tanks.” She wrestles with her sense of social justice—she can leave, but the Palestinian families she’s come to know cannot. And she wrestles with the politics of supporting Palestinians, acknowledging the suffering of ordinary people in Israel. She writes her mother: “I’m really scared and questioning the fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and
 devote our lives to making this stop.”

While that may sound naïve, it’s hard to disagree with such a powerful plea for peace. And after seeing the play, it would be hard to dislike Corrie’s singular personality or to doubt her sincerity. That’s not to say the show won’t spark debate, which, according to producers Dena Hammerstein and Pam Pariseau, is precisely what they want. “After we first saw the play in London,” says Pariseau, “We went to dinner with some people and ended up talking for two-and-a-half hours about the play. We thought, when was the last time that happened?” Some friends tried to talk Pariseau out of taking on a show with such controversial underpinnings. But, says Hammerstein, “We really feel there’s been a controversy about something that people didn’t know first hand. We really hope by bringing the play here, people can judge for themselves.”

The first night of previews, they gave a free ticket to a man passing out pro-Israel fliers outside the theater. Other nights have drawn other protestors passing out leaflets. To formalize the debate, the producers also planned audience “talk-backs” after some shows, with participants ranging from Rachel Corrie’s parents—who originally provided the show’s material—to playwrights David Hare and Tony Kushner. Here is a play where the real dialogue begins when the curtain comes down, theater that not only stirs our hearts but sticks in our heads.



URL: 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Ramadan wishes

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salaam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuhu,
   
  Ramandan Mubarok/greetings to everyone around the world. 
   
  I do not know about you all, but this Ramadan is much overdue for me. I was 
also begging for the Ramadan to begin. Not only because the rest of the world 
started its fasting except us, but for many other reasons as well. 
   
  Since last Ramadan, there was much to be thankful to Allah (SWT), however I 
just couldn’t show that much gratitude. Though, no matter how much gratitude we 
show to Allah, it will still fall far short, and certainly Allah is in no need 
of our gratitude toward Him. However, being gratitude (sukr) is opposite of 
ingrate (kufr) and I much rather be in the first category! 
   
  Even though I was not able to make time to show my gratitude toward Allah for 
all His blessings to me, Ramadan gives me the perfect opportunity to “force” 
myself to do things I have been planning year long! 
   
  As we have much to be thankful to Allah, there are much concern, trial and 
tribulations for Muslims all across the globe as well. Not that Non-Muslims 
didn’t have their share of troubles, but it seems, that Muslims are enduring 
the brunt of troubles across the globe. 
   
  The war on “terrorism” is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan; even though not 
many terrorists have been killed, many civilians are. 
   
  Lebanon was almost sent back to Stone Age, deliberately and as promised. 
   
  The struggle of Palestinians continues. 
   
  Darfur is still a mess and we still can’t decide what is going on or who to 
blame.  
   
  Then there is the constant attack on our beloved Prophet, upon whom much 
praise. 
   
  First there were the Danish cartoons, which was foolish and ignorant. 
  However, Pope is neither a fool nor ignorant. 
   
  Having said that, our reactions to all these have not been something to be 
proud about either. When someone calls you intolerant and you react by 
threatening to kill him/her or worse, actually kill someone, then it only 
legitimizes the comments.
   
  As we start our Ramadan, I hope all of us would spend some time to 
contemplate about our situation, both individual situation and collective and 
promise to think things through, before we react or even open our mouth. 
   
  May Allah accept our fasting, May Allah make our fasting easy, May Allah 
accept all our invocations, May Allah forgive all our sins and make our slate 
clean, May Allah bless our parents and their parents, May Allah unite all the 
Muslims, May Allah give us the ability remove enmity toward other Muslims, May 
Allah make this world a better place for us and our children, May Allah keep us 
in the straight path, May Allah give us the opportunity to die as a Muslim and 
May Allah give us best in the here after. 
  Amen
   
  Maqsud






***
{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

--

All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in 
any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved 
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Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Kill us, too: We are also Americans

[Maqsud Sobhani]

From: "mpa_milwaukee" [EMAIL PROTECTED]Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 04:21:42 -Subject: [MPA_NEWS] Kill us, too: We are also AmericansKill us, too: We are also AmericansBy ASLAM ABDULLAHSpecial to the Las Vegas Review-JournalThe leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, recently issued a decree to its supporters: Kill at least one American in the next two weeks" using a sniper rifle, explosive or whatever the battle may require."Well, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, I am an American too. Count me as the one of those you have asked your supporters to kill.I am not alone, there are thousands of Muslims with me in Las Vegas, and many more millions in America, who are proud Americans and who are ready to face your challenge. You hide in your caves and behind the faces of civilians in
 Afghanistan and Iraq. You don't show your faces and you have no guts to face Muslims. You thrive on the misery of thousands of Muslim youth and children who are victims of despotism, poverty and ignorance.During the past two decades, you have brought nothing but shame and disaster to your religion and your world.You said you "invite you not to drop your weapons, and don't let your souls or your enemies rest until each one of you kills at least one American within a period that does not exceed 15 days with a sniper's gunshot or incendiary devices or Molotov cocktail or a suicide car bomb -- whatever the battle may require." I inviteyou to surrender, to seek forgiveness from God almighty forthe senseless killing you and your supporters are involved in and repent for everything you have done.You say that the word of God is the highest. Yes, it is. But you are not worthy of it. You have abandoned God and
 you have startedworshipping your own satanic egos that rejoice at the killing ofinnocent people. You don't represent Muslims or, for that matter, any decent human being who believes in the sanctity of life. Manyamong us American Muslims have differences with our administration on domestic and foreign issues, just like many other Americansdo. But the plurality of opinions does not mean that we depriveourselves of the civility that God demands from us. America is ourhome and will always be our home. Its interests are ours, and itspeople are ours. When you talk of killing of Americans, you first have to kill 6 million or so Muslims who will stand for everyAmerican's right to live and enjoy the life as commanded by God.By growing a beard, shouting some religious slogans and misquoting and misusing some verses of the divine scriptures, you cannot incite Muslims to do things that are contrary to our religion. Yes,
 you even fail to understand the basic Islamic principles of life and living. Islam demands peace in all aspects of life, Islam demands respect for life. Islam demands justice.What you are doing in Iraq, Afghanistan, India or other parts of the world is anti-human and anti-divine. You are an enemy of Islam as much as you are an enemy of America. You must understand that God who entrusted you with life is the same God who spelled his spirit in every human being regardless of his or her religion orethnicity or nationality or status. You are violating him.We feel totally disgusted with your action and we condemn you without any reservation. Don't come to our mosques to preach this hatred. Don't visit our Islamic centers to spill the blood of innocents. Don't think that just because we share the samereligion, we would show some sympathy to you. You are not ofus. You don't belong to the religion whose followers are
 trying to live a peaceful life for themselves and others serving the divine according to their understanding. In our understanding offaith, you appear as anti-divine and anti-human. We reject you now as we rejected you yesterday.There is nothing common between you and us.We stand for life, you want to destroy it.We accept the divine scheme of diversity in the world and you want to impose conformity.We respect every human being simply because he or she is a creation of the divine, and you hate people based on their religion and ethnicity.We support freedom and liberty and justice, and you promote bigotry, murder and strangulation.You will never be able to find a sympathetic voice amidst us. Our differences with others will never lead us to do things that are fundamentally wrong in our faith, i. e. taking the lives ofinnocent people and killing others because they are
 different.So on Sept. 11, when you will be hiding in your caves, we will be out in the streets paying tribute to those who you killed because you failed to see the beauty of life. We will condemn you once again the same way we have been doing ever since 9/11 because we are Muslim Americans.Aslam Abdullah is director of the Islamic Society of Nevada. He is also the chair of the publication division of the recently formed International Iqbal Institute for Research, Education andDialogue located in Lahore, Pakistan.LETTERS: A credo for Muslims in AmericaTo the 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Pakistanis Find U.S. an Easier Fit Than Britain

[Maqsud Sobhani]

August 21, 2006  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/us/21devon.html?ex=1157515200en=949193f6e072927dei=5070Pakistanis Find U.S. an Easier Fit Than Britain   By NEIL MacFARQUHARCHICAGO, Aug. 18 — The stretch of Devon Avenue in North Chicago also named for Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, seems as if it has been transplanted directly from that country. The shops are packed with traditional wedding finery, and the spice mix
 in the restaurants’ kebabs is just right.   Similar enclaves in Britain have been under scrutiny since they have proved to be a breeding ground for cells of terrorists, possibly including the 24 men arrested recently as suspects in a plot to blow up airliners flying out of London.   Yet Devon Avenue is in many ways different. Although heavily Pakistani, the street is far more exposed to other cultures than are similar communities in Britain.  Indian Hindus have a significant presence along the roughly one-and-a-half-mile strip of boutiques, whose other half is named for Gandhi. What was a heavily Jewish neighborhood some 20 years ago also includes recent immigrants from Colombia, Mexico and Ukraine, among others.   “There is integration even when you
 have an enclave,” said Nizam Arain, 32, a lawyer of Pakistani descent who was born and raised in Chicago. “You don’t have the same siege mentality.”   Even so, members of the Pakistani immigrant community here find themselves joining the speculation as to whether sinister plots could be hatched in places like Devon (pronounced deh-VAHN) Avenue.   The most common response is no, at least not now, because of differences that have made Pakistanis in the United States far better off economically and more assimilated culturally than their counterparts in Britain. But some Pakistani-Americans do not rule out the possibility, given how little is understood about the exact tipping point that pushes angry young Muslim men to accept an ideology that endorses suicide and mass
 murder.  The idea of a relatively smaller, more prosperous, more striving immigrant community inoculating against terror cells goes only so far, they say.   “It makes it sound like it couldn’t happen here because we are the good immigrants: hard-working, close-knit, educated,” said Junaid Rana, an assistant professor of Asian-American studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an American-born son of Pakistani immigrants. “But we are talking about a cult mind-set, how a cult does its brainwashing.”  Yet one major difference between the United States and Britain, some say, is the United States’ historical ideal of being a melting-pot meritocracy.  “You can keep the flavor of your ethnicity, but you are expected to become an American,” said Omer Mozaffar, 34, a Pakistani-American raised here who is working toward a doctorate in Islamic studies at the University of Chicago.   Britain remains far more rigid. In the United States, for example, Pakistani physicians are more likely to lead departments at hospitals or universities than they are in Britain, said Dr. Tariq H. Butt, a 52-year-old family physician who arrived in the United States 25 years ago for his residency.   Nationwide, Pakistanis appear to be prospering. The census calculated that mean household income in the United States in 2002 was $57,852 annually, while that for Asian households, which includes Pakistanis, was $70,047. By contrast, about one-fifth of young British-born Muslims are jobless, and many subsist on welfare.  Hard numbers on how many people of Pakistani descent live in the United States do not exist, but a forthcoming book from Harvard University Press on charitable donations among Pakistani-Americans, “Portrait of a Giving Community,” puts the number around 500,000, with some 35 percent or more of them in the New York metropolitan area. Chicago has fewer than 100,000, while other significant clusters exist in California, Texas and Washington, D.C.  Pakistani immigration to the United States surged after laws in the 1960’s made it easier for Asians to enter the country. Most were drawn by jobs in academia, medicine and engineering. It was only in the late 1980’s and 90’s that Pakistanis arrived to work blue-collar jobs as taxi drivers or shopkeepers, said Adil Najam, the author of the book
 on donations and an international relations professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.   In Britain, by comparison, the first Pakistanis arrived after World War II to work in factories. Many were fleeing sectarian strife in Kashmir — a lingering source of resentment — and entire communities picked up and resettled together. This created Pakistani ghettos in cities like Bradford and Birmingham, whereas in the United States immigrants tended to be scattered and newcomers forced to assimilate. The trends intensified with time.   A decade ago, for example, a Pakistani in Chicago who wanted to buy halal meat, from animals butchered in a religiously 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] The Muslim malaise

[Maqsud Sobhani]

The Muslim malaise  Aug.20, 2006. 07:03AM  HAROON SIDDIQUI  He who wrongs a Jew or a Christian will have me as his accuser on the Day of Judgment.   — Prophet Muhammad   Contrary to the popular belief that the West is under siege from Muslim terrorists, it is Muslims who have become the biggest victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001, as inconceivable as that would have seemed in the aftermath of the murder of 2,900 Americans. Since then, between 34,000 and 100,000 Iraqis have been killed by the Americans or the insurgents. Nobody knows how many have been killed in Afghanistan. In the spots hit by terrorists — from London and Madrid to Amman,
 Istanbul, Riyadh and Jeddah, through Karachi to Bali and Jakarta — more Muslims have been killed and injured than non-Muslims.   None of this is to say that Muslims do not have problems that they must address. They do. But the problems are not quite what many in the West make them out to be.   One of the strangest aspects of the post-9/11 world is that, despite all the talk about Muslim terrorism, there is hardly any exploration of the complex causes of Muslim rage. Muslims are in a state of crisis, but their most daunting problems are not religious. They are geopolitical, economic and social — problems that have caused widespread Muslim despair and, in some cases, militancy, both of which are expressed in the religious terminology that Muslim masses relate to.   Most Muslims live in the developing world, much of it colonized by Western powers as recently as 50 years ago. Not all Muslim shortcomings emanate from colonialism and
 neo-imperialism, but several do.   As part of the spoils of the First World War, Britain and France helped themselves to much of the Ottoman Empire, including Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and what is now Israel, Jordan and the Palestine Authority. In later years, they and other European colonial powers created artificial states such as Kuwait and Nigeria. Or they divided peoples and nations along sectarian lines, such as bifurcating India in 1947 into Muslim Pakistan and largely Hindu India. In more recent years, the United States has maintained repressive proxy regimes in the Middle East to stifle public anti-Israeli sentiments, keep control of oil and maintain a captive market for armaments.   While the past casts a long shadow over Muslims, it is the present that haunts them. Hundreds of millions live in zones of conflict, precisely in the areas of European and American meddling, past and present — U.S.-occupied Iraq, U.S.-controlled Afghanistan, the
 Israeli Occupied Territories, and Kashmir, the disputed Muslim state on the border of India and Pakistan in the foothills of the Himalayas. Only the Russian war on Muslim Chechnya is not related to the history of Western machinations, but even that has had the tacit support of the Bush administration. These conflicts, along with the economic sanctions on Iraq, have killed an estimated 1.3 million Muslims in the last 15 years alone. Why are we surprised that Muslims are up in arms?   In addition, nearly 400 million Muslims live under authoritarian despots, many of them Western puppets, whose corruption and incompetence have left their people in economic and social shambles.   It is against this backdrop that one must look at the current malaise of Muslims and their increasing emotional reliance on their faith.   Economic Woes   The total GDP of the 56 members of the Islamic Conference, representing more than a quarter of
 the world's population, is less than 5 per cent of the world's economy. Their trade represents 7 per cent of global trade, even though more than two-thirds of the world's oil and gas lie under Muslim lands.   The standard of living in Muslim nations is abysmal even in the oil-rich regions, because of unconscionable gaps between the rulers and the ruled. A quarter of impoverished Pakistan's budget goes to the military. Most of the $2 billion a year of American aid given to Egypt as a reward for peace with Israel goes to the Egyptian military.   The most undemocratic Muslim states, which also happen to be the closest allies of the U.S., are the most economically backward.   The Arab nations, with a combined population of 280 million, muster a total GDP less than that of Spain. The rate of illiteracy among Arabs is 43 per cent, worse than that of much poorer nations. Half of Arab women are illiterate, representing two-thirds of the 65 million
 Arabs who cannot read or write. About 10 million Arab children are not in school. The most-educated Arabs live abroad, their talents untapped, unlike those of the Chinese and Indian diasporas, who have played significant roles in jump-starting the economies of their native lands.   A disproportionate percentage of the world's youth are Muslim. Half of Saudi Arabia's and a third of Iran's populations are younger than 20. There are few jobs for them. "Young and unemployed" is a phenomenon common to many Muslim nations.   A majority of the 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Fail to prepare, Prepare to fail

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Fail to prepare, Prepare to fail 
7/26/2006 - Social Political - Article Ref: IV0607-3053
Number of comments: 23
Opinion Summary: Agree:15  Disagree:3  Neutral:5 
By: Dr. Aslam Abdullah
Iviews* - 

  
  The ineffectiveness of Muslim Americans
  If you fail to prepare, prepare to fail, says a popular proverb. The failure 
of Muslims in the United States to make any impact on the current US policy in 
the Middle speaks of the ineffectiveness of Muslim organizations in preparing 
themselves for a catastrophe like the one being witnessed in Lebanon. It is 
apparent that Israel is pursing a belligerent policy of aggression in the 
region under the direct patronage of Washington. The White House and the 
Congress as well as the public opinion seem to be solidly behind Israel.

The fact that only 22 members of the House didn't endorse the HR 921, a 
resolution that advocated violence in the name of self defense and condoned the 
aggression of Israel in the name of national interest is a clear indication 
that despite the protests of Muslim organizations, the legislatures of the 
nation's top law making body don't care about the concerns of Muslims as far as 
the situation in the Middle East is concerned.

Of course, one can explain the congressional position in terms of the influence 
exerted by the pro-Israel lobby or in terms of the activism of right wing 
evangelical Christians. Yet the question that must be asked is why have Muslim 
organizations failed to create a public opinion that is fair and objective 
towards the Middle East?

Part of the answer can be that, Muslim organizations seem to be more concerned 
with hobnobbing with officials in law enforcement agencies and bureaucracy 
rather than making a firm stand on principals and reaching out to the masses 
and those public officials who ultimately shape the public opinion. It is 
perhaps time to look critically at the existing Muslim organizations and ask 
tough questions.

During the recent crisis in Lebanon, besides issuing condemnation, no Muslim 
organization produced a single piece of serious analysis on the situation 
educating the community about the nature of the crisis and their 
responsibilities. No organization sought to develop a national Muslim consensus 
on the issue. Only a few organizations have planned a day of either prayer or 
protest. No organization has given any clear guidelines to its members about 
the future course of action.

The reason of their failure is not their apathy or indifference to the plight 
of Palestinians or Lebanese. I believe this is because none is prepared to 
handle the crisis and none is capable to mobilize Muslims the way Jewish 
community has mobilized its ranks in support of the ongoing unjust war of 
aggression.

A critical analysis of most of our Muslim organizations in the US will show 
that they operate on an authoritarian style. They are not grass roots 
organizations and they have made few efforts to mobilize Muslims on a 
consistent basis. Most of the time the effort is put on promoting their own 
organizations, instead of promoting the issues and coordinating the work with 
other organizations. They may have chapters and branches, but most of these 
outfits comprise of people who rarely work with the masses. Most leaders are 
content with the situation because they don't want their leadership to be 
challenged or questioned. 

Additionally, very few organizations make efforts to involve women and youth in 
their political discourses. When they do involve youth or women, they usually 
assign them the task of arranging the chairs or cooking for the believers.

Even the conventions that are ritually held by Muslim organizations annually, 
rarely talk of a national consensus strategy or outreach plan. 

It is this style of work and leadership that give rise to failures. It is time 
that we review what we have been doing to ourselves and decide upon an honest 
course of action that would help us become effective at the grassroots level. 

We cannot ask our fellow citizens to change their perspectives on the Middle 
East on the basis of a few statements that our organizations issue ritually. 

We cannot ask even public officials to change the direction of the country, 
when we our selves have not found any direction in the country.

In order to win over the hearts and mind of the people, we have to prove that 
we care for this country and humanity at large. Besides building our mosques 
and centers for the purpose of our own gratification and glorification, what 
else have we done to get involved in the affairs of the country? We are 
conspicuously absent from our city council debates when issues such as 
homelessness and development projects are discussed. We are conspicuously 
absent from school boards when the educational strategy is discussed. We are 
absent from the discussion when the library board decides the budget and the 
number of books to be purchased each year. We are 

Boycott Israel [IslamCity] Four children and the cost of war

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikum,  We have been watching live coverage’s and reading news about the invasion of Lebanon. However, most are very cut and dry and fail to capture the real essence of the pain of suffering that accompanies any way.  The below article caught my attention.
 It seemed it was written with a lot of heart. The author genuinely tries to portray a very humane picture of the suffering of the Lebanese people.   Of course, the war mongers would take lesson from it; yes even the war mongers among the Muslims too!   Fee Amanillah  Maqsud Sobhani  www.islamicminds.tk   Four children
 and the cost of war  By Cal PerryCNN  TYRE, Lebanon (CNN) -- The last time I sat down to write something, it was about the cost of war. As I looked ahead to the coming days, the last words I wrote were: Who will die?  Today, I found out.  Standing in front of this 8-year-old boy lying in a hospital bed, the "conflict in the Middle East" and the "cost of war" seem endless and suffocating. His pain cannot possibly be imagined as he shakes uncontrollably in and out of shock. He has blood coming from his
 eyes.  His name is Mahmood Monsoor and he is horribly burned. In the hospital bed next to him is his 8-month-old sister, Maria -- also burned. Screaming at the top of her lungs is the children's mother, Nuhader Monsoor. She is standing over her baby, looking at her son -- and probably thinking of her dead husband. The smell of burned flesh is overwhelming.  This story, for the Monsoor family, started out as a typical one, probably one that most of us have experienced. They had simply gone on a family vacation to some lovely sunny beaches, but these beaches were in southern Lebanon.  The six of them, like thousands of others, were fleeing the
 fighting -- trying to get north, waving white flags, when an Israeli bomb or missile slammed into their car. (Watch how the littlest victims are suffering -- 2:54. Viewer discretion is advised.)  The father, Mohammed Monsoor, was killed instantly. His children all were wounded. His wife, who is now crying over two of the wounded children, was in the best physical condition. But as would be the case for any mother and wife, her life, in many ways, ended the minute the car exploded into flames.  The other two Monsoor children, Ahmed, 15, and Ali, 13, are in surgery. Doctors can't tell me if they will make it. They walk away, their heads shaking. Optimism is not a word that breathes truth in this
 place.  There are more than enough stories like this, in hospitals across southern Lebanon. This hospital, on this day, seems to be a microcosm of the region. Less than 100 meters from the front door of the hospital, a car is on fire. Less than 30 minutes earlier, the car exploded as an Israeli jet circled overhead. The fog of war has crept into the hospital, and no one knows where the casualties of that strike are being treated.  Just days earlier, staff at this hospital were moving bodies out to make room for more. Like an assembly line of the dead, unless the bombings stop, they will be doing the same tomorrow.  The city of
 Tyre has been enduring stories like this for more than a week. Buildings are crumpled; those who have not left are hiding in basements. Those who dare to pack into cars run the risk of ending up like the Monsoor family. Some who move north die on the road. Some stay in basements, and die there. Others hope against hope that the bombs will fall elsewhere -- missing them.  Politics creeps into the ward like the blood that runs on the floors. "Clearly he is Hezbollah," says one of the doctors outside the room -- sarcastically referring to 8-year-old Mahmood, whose screams can be heard from the hallway. His screams now blend with the wails of his mother, matching the baby's cries.  The hospital ward begins to teem with members of the
 international press. They all have blue flak jackets that say "press" on the front. They carry microphones, cameras, radios and satellite phones, and have local guides to translate.  Today, as I finish I am sitting in the same spot and the shells are still falling. Hezbollah rockets are firing toward northern Israel. I can imagine another reporter, in another flak jacket, standing over an 8-year old Israeli boy.  I'll finish by asking another question: Are any of us making a difference?  Tomorrow, I'll let you know.Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/23/perry.tyre/index.html 
	
	
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***
{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 sp

[IslamCity] Liberate Yourself This Independence Day: Help Palestine

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Sound Vision [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:  From: "Sound Vision" [EMAIL PROTECTED]To: maqsud sobhani [EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: Liberate Yourself This Independence Day: Help PalestineDate: Mon, 03 Jul 2006 10:00:00 -0400In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Mercy-Giving SoundVision.com Newsletter ||Islamic Information and Products (tm)Monday, July 3, 2006, Jumada-al-Thani 7, 1427 AH|| http://www.soundvision.com *** LIBERATE YOURSELF THIS FOURTH OF JULY*** ASSESS YOUR PATRIOTISM TODAY*** SOUND VISION''S PAGE ON FREEDOM*** GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH*** THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE*** THE BILL OF RIGHTS*** VISIT SOUNDVISION'S STORES THIS SUMMER*** DR. MURAD INTERVIEW WITH
 BBCOPPORTUNITIES:*** NOW HIRING PRODUCER  GENERAL MANAGER FOR RADIO ISLAM*** NOMINATE NEW HOSTS FOR CHICAGO MUSLIM TALK RADIOPRODUCTS:*** NEW BOOK BY DAWUD WHARNSBY ALI*** DIFFERENT DRUM*** NEW SONG CD + BOOK PACK OF DAWUDRADIO ISLAM:*** LISTEN TO RADIO ISLAM TALK SHOWS*** DONATE FOR RADIO ISLAMAssalamu Alaikum:Tomorrow is the Fourth of July and freedom, independence, andliberty are on my mind.In her 1943 book The Discovery of Freedom, Rose Wilder Lane of theLittle House on the Prairie traces the history of human beings'struggle for freedom.Her starting point is Prophet Abraham's struggle for liberty. Thesecond most important leader she writes about in this historicalmovement for freedom is Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Sheconcludes that in modern times, American experience in liberty isthe leading one.I believe that like spiritual well-being
 and physical fitness,freedom and liberty do not stay at one level. Either it goes up orgoes down based on how much we are investing in it.This Independence Day I am thinking of Palestinians who remainedoccupied by Israelis who should know what loss of freedom means forpeople. The occupied Gaza is without electricity, without water, notmuch food left and hardly any work. If it was a hurricane orearthquake the world will be committing billions but here only a fewweak voice of the likes of Amnesty International calling it a warcrime.This Independence Day, I wish we could come up with a bettercriminal justice system than what we have, maybe a system whichbalances values and the law on one side and reward and punishment onthe other. At this moment, we boast the world's largest prisonpopulation: 2.1 million individuals incarcerated with almost 4million people on probation.This Independence Day comes at a
 time when Muslims are fearful;their neighbors in America and a good part of the world are fearfulas well. This Independence Day, let's resolve to free ourselves fromthe fear of other human beings.PeaceAbdul Malik MujahidP.S. Listen to Dr. Murad’s interview about Sound Vision on BBC. TheVice President of Sound Vision spoke to them during his visit to UK.The interview was for BBC Asian service and is in the Urdu language.http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/asiannet_aod.shtml?asiannet/asiandevsounds_islam_sun*** HELPING PALESTINEAny Muslim organization trying to help Palestinians are simplybanned by either Israel or America. In this situation if you are outof options, think of American Friends Service Committee has been afriend of the truth, justice and Palestine for long. This nobleprize winning organizations is trying to help Palestinians as muchas possible. I fully trust them for their honesty and
 fairness:http://www.afsc.org/gaza/default.htm*** NOW HIRING PRODUCER  MANAGER FOR RADIO ISLAMRadio producer is responsible for generating ideas to editing (andsometimes even presenting). The producer will be involved in theentire process of broadcasting content for radio. They manage asmall team of hosts, broadcast assistants, and studio engineer.Planning, scheduling, communication and researching are key aspectsof the role.Experience in Radio is a plus but any smart person who is willing tolearn can do it.The work include, developing schedule, booking guests, researching,writing, interviewing, hosting and uploading material to the site.Please send your resume and a letter of interest to[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject heading of "RadioProducer."Offer limited to persons with USA work authorization only.*** NOMINATE NEW HOSTS FOR CHICAGO MUSLIM TALK RADIOHere is your chance to
 be one of the hosts for the Chicago areadaily Muslim Talk Radio which has been successfully on air now forabout nine months. More than 500 guests have been on our shows fromall walks of life. Nominate yourself or someone you know. It is avolunteer position and you must be in Chicago area to be a host:http://www.RadioIslam.com/forms/nom-tshost.asp*** LIBERATE YOURSELF THIS FOURTH OF JULYhttp://SoundVision.com/info/freedom/liberate.asp*** ASSESS YOUR PATRIOTISM TODAYhttp://SoundVision.com/info/freedom/assess.asp*** GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATHhttp://soundvision.com/info/freedom/liberty.asp*** THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCEhttp://

[IslamCity] Destruction of Islamic Architectural Heritage in Saudi Arabia

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam, I recently posted the below article. However some wrote to me that they did not receive anything, only blank email. Apparently, when I forwarded the article, it didnt work properly. Fee Amanillah  Maqsud  Destruction of Islamic Architectural Heritage in
 Saudi Arabia:  A Wake-up Callhttp://islam21.net/friday/19-05-06.html  Saeed Shehabi*  In year 2002, Dr Ahmad Zaki Yamani, the former Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia, delivered a lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, on a subject that had not been openly discussed at this level. Dr Yamani’s lecture was about a project that he had undertaken to excavate the site of the Holy Prophet’s house in Makkah. A team of more than 300 workers, engineers, archaeologists and other experts worked
 over a 24-hour period, excavated the house, took detailed images of its design and structure, and filled it with sand before they left. When Dr Yamani was asked why the house was hidden again, he said that there were powerful people in his country who would object to the whole operation, arguing that it was blasphemous to glorify anyone but God.  During the discussion, a young Jordanian man stood up and said: “Isn’t it a waste of money and effort to do what you had done in order to unearth old stones that would benefit no one?”  Dr Yamani replied: “Thank you. You have made my task easier. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the mentality we are facing in Saudi Arabia. I hope you now understand why we had to cover the findings in haste.”  During this year, 2006, the extent of the destruction
 of historic Islamic monuments has come to light with devastating impact. It is now estimated that more than 90 per cent of historic mosques, mausoleums and other artefacts have been erased from the face of the earth, to the extent that some Saudi voices, especially from the Hejaz, have begun to question the wisdom of the eradication of the country’s historic wealth. The policy of destruction and enmity to anything that is of symbolic value has now crossed the borders of Saudi Arabia to other countries. The destruction in February 2006 of the ninth-century tomb of Samarra in Iraq has extended the boundaries of this policy to other parts of the Arab and Muslim world. There is now a growing fear that other monuments and mausoleums in Iraq and elsewhere may be targeted by elements loyal to the Salafi School of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd alWahabi, the godfather of the most destructive force in the Muslim world. In May 2001, the 2000-year-old statue of Buddha in the Afghan city of
 Bamyan was demolished by the Taliban forces, which ruled Afghanistan for five years (1996–2001). Although several delegations from Muslim countries flew to Kabul to dissuade the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, from destroying the monument, they failed in their mission.  The extremism of today’s Salafi movement has become a force of annihilation, which spares no one in its drive to dominate the Muslim world. It is closely linked to the Wahhabi movement founded by Muhammad ibn ‘Abd alWahab (1703–1792 ac). His aim was to purify Islam by returning all Muslims to what he believed were its original principles as typified by alSalaf alalihn (the earliest converts to Islam). He rejected what he regarded as corruption introduced by bid‘a (innovation, reformation) and shirk (idolatry). During his lifetime, he denounced the
 practices of various sects of Sufism as heretical and unorthodox, such as their veneration of saints. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd alWahab revived interest in the works of an earlier scholar, Ibn Taymiyyah (661–728ah/1263–1328ac), and his disciple, Ibn alJawziyyah (d. 1350 ac). Ibn Taymiyyah was reported to have said: “The leaders of Islam agreed that it is not permitted to build the mausoleums over the graves. They cannot be considered mosques and praying in them is not permitted.” Later, Ibn Jawziyyah said: “The mausoleums that are built on graves must be demolished. It is not permitted to keep them for one day if there is the power to demolish them.” Seven centuries had passed after the advent of Islam with none of the scholars raising the issue. Muhammad ibn ‘Abd alWahab, who came four centuries after Ibn
 Jawziyyah, went further in his extremism and adopted doctrines that label people with differing views as unbelievers and polytheists. Those falling into these categories, according to him, were worthy of nothing but extermination. Their lives deserved no sanctity, their wealth could be plundered and their families could be enslaved or killed. The legacy of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd alWahab has not only survived for two centuries, but has also acquired new international dimensions. Extremists are now distributed over the five continents and are threatening not only non-Muslims but also the very fabric of the Muslim Ummah, which is being destroyed in the rising sectarian discord promoted by followers of the neo-Salafis.  Within Saudi Arabia itself, fear has become a major factor in silencing the 

[IslamCity] Does Allah Answer the Prayers of Non-Muslims?

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikumRecently I made a post to some groups, asking people, of all faith, to pray for an ailing sister. I got some long lectures from some of my brothers in faith about how wrong it was for me to ask non muslims pray for a muslim!  So, I am posting here a fatwa on the very same topic. fee Amanillah  Maqsud  Question and Answer DetailsName of Questioner  Bethany  - United StatesTitle   Does Allah Answer the Prayers of Non-Muslims?Topic  Faith  Practice 
   Date  21/Oct/2003Question  As-salamu `alaykum. I have a general question about prayers. Are the prayers of non-believers (i.e. Christians, Jews, etc.) accepted by Allah? If this is false, when certain prayers are answered for non-Muslims, is it just by coincidence? I ask this question because a prayer and the will of Allah brought me to Islam. I would also like to express my gratitude to your staff who helped me throughout the process! Even though I was not a Muslim, I asked Allah to guide me to the Truth; therefore, He answered my prayers. I would greatly appreciate a response to my question. Jazaka Allahu khayran. Name of Counsellor  Ælfwine Mischler AnswerAs-salamu `alaykum Bethany, Welcome to Islam and thank you for your question. You ask whether Allah answers the prayers of non-Muslims, but you yourself answered it, in part, when you said that you prayed for guidance and He answered you. However, that is only part of the answer. Allah tells us in the Qur’an that He answers people when they call upon Him and not others. We often hear of people who are not even believers calling on God (Allah) in times of distress, such as when they are faced with death. Even though these people are usually mushriks (those who associate others with Allah), if they call upon
 Allah in a time of need, He answers them. The proof of this is in the Qur’anic verses number 63 – 64 of Surah 6 that mean: *{Say: “Who is it that delivereth you from the dark recesses of land and sea, when ye call upon Him in humility and silent terror: ‘If only He delivers us from these [dangers], [we vow] we shall truly show our gratitude’.?” Say: “It is God that delivereth you from these and all [other] distresses: and yet ye worship false gods!” }*And He also tells us in Surah 14, verse 34 what means: *{And He giveth you of all that ye ask Him for. But if ye count the favors of God, never will ye be able to number them. Verily, man is given up to injustice and ingratitude.}*In the above translation by Yusuf Ali, I have inserted “Him” in the first sentence. It appears in the Arabic but was omitted by Yusuf Ali, yet I would lay emphasis on that word. However, if
 a prayer is directed to someone other than Allah — whether that be Jesus, Mary, a saint, an idol, an ancestor, or anyone or anything else — the prayer is useless. This is found in the Qur’anic verse number 14 of Surah 13 that means: *{For Him [alone] is prayer in Truth: any others that they call upon besides Him hear them no more than if they were to stretch forth their hands for water to reach their mouths but it reaches them not: for the prayer of those without Faith is nothing but [futile] wandering [in the mind].}*Allah is Ar-Rahman, which is variously translated as The Most Gracious, The Compassionate, The All-Merciful. That mercy extends to all of His creatures, Muslims and non-Muslims, human and non-human, living and non-living. That is why we have our five senses, our sustenance, rain, the change of day and night, and all the other innumerable bounties given us by our Creator. But what about those millions
 of people around the world who will tell you that Jesus or such-and-such saint or anyone else answered their prayers? What they got in response was no more than what was already written for them. Even if they hadn’t prayed, they would have got that thing. Nothing happens by coincidence or chance in the meaning that it was unplanned by Allah. Only sincere supplication to God (Allah) alone can change what is written. So, Allah (God) does answer non-Muslims when they ask Him for something. Anything else they get is only what was already written for them. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-AAbout_Islam/AskAboutIslamE/AskAboutIslamEcid=1123996016156
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***
{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 

[IslamCity] Please pray for sister dawn

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikum. Many of you know sister dawn. She is a dedicated Muslimah, who accepted Islam several years ago. She is also the found and moderator of several yahoo groups, such as Islamicminds, muslim_youth_connection. More importantly, she is one of the most kind and generous person that anyone will ever get to know. I know her so well for so many years and I have far too many stories to share.  For now I ask that you please pray for Sister Dawn. She had chest pains and shortness of breath and other bad symptoms. Thank Allah, it wasn't a heart attack or anything
 like that. The doctors said it was a very bad reaction to some medication or maybe combination of medication she was taking for a different health problem. Although if may not be as serious as we thought it was, she has been having continuous health problems for the last few years. Alhamdulillah, it has only cause her to be more generous and helpful toward the needy. Please pray for her over the next few weeks as the doctors try to get her system straightened out and get her on medication which will help her condition. She personally writes to a lot of group members and just know that she may now answer your letters for a while. 
   However you are welcome to write to her directly at [EMAIL PROTECTED] I have received some very concerned offline from sister dawn’s daughter asking if their non Muslims friends could pray for her mother as well. There is only One God, therefore we all pray to the same God.So I ask that everyone regardless of your belief please pray for sister dawn as we never know whose prayer Allah will accept. Maqsud, on behalf of all of sister dawn’s well wishers. 
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***
{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] 
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[IslamCity] WHATS THE SURPRISE IN PALESTINE? Don't Punish the Palestinians

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam alaikum,  Here are two very well written article about the recent hamas victory and the reality of the Palestine situation.Fee Amanillah  MaqsudWHATS THE SURPRISE IN PALESTINE?Graham E. Fuller  La Vanguardia- Barcelona  29 January 2006http://www.lavanguardia.es/web/20060129/51228977945.htmlWhats the surprise in the victory of the Palestinian movement Hamas in the Palestinian elections this week? To those who follow the Middle East closely, the Hamas victory is part of a broad pattern we see all over the Muslim world: Islamists (moderate and radical) are the dominant political force. They have few
 rivals-- not even nationalists or leftists-- in most countries.Islamists flourish where there is no democracy--where people have no voice over their own fates, their own regime, and the actions of distant powers. In the elections in Egypt last month President Mubarak, under pressure, made a small opening in the electoral system and the Muslim Brotherhood immediately made great gains. If the elections in Egypt had been truly open, the Muslim Brotherhood would probably have won a majority in Egypt as well.Washington and most of the Europeans still dont understand the political and social dynamic in Palestine. The number one force that dominates the daily life and entire psychology of the Palestinians is 39 years of Israeli occupation almost two generations. Palestinians are bitter and angry. They support Hamas because Hamas has not been corrupt, it speaks in the name of Islam and Palestinian nationalism, conducts major social programs, and it has been willing to undertake armed struggle against the Israeli state that occupies them. It has fought a guerrilla warfare, attacking occupying Israeli security forces. It has also employed terrorism against Israeli civilians with the claim that it is responding to the indiscriminate use of Israeli force against Palestinian civilians that has also killed thousands of women and children. This is not to justify Hamas policies, but to make
 it clear why they have turned even to terrorism on occasion in order to resist the occupation and why most impotent Palestinians see that as justified.If Washington and the Europeans insist that first there must be peace and calm in the area before peace negotiations can move forward, then peace will never come. If we seek to untie the complex knot of fifty years of Palestinian-Israeli confrontation we must begin at the source of the problem: the occupation itself. To insist on law and order first is to deliberately choose not to deal with the root cause of the problem.So the situation in Palestine today should come as no surprise. Those who are surprised are those who do not understand the problem.Is Hamas happy? Hamas is obviously delighted with the demonstration of its power and support in Palestine; it is no longer possible for the world to ignore it. But Hamas is probably not delighted with now having responsibility for the all the problems of Palestine, domestic and international. Rather than being a very, very bad step for peace as Italian Premier Berlusconi said yesterday, however,
 this victory possibly could be a very, very positive step forward. I do not wish to be simple-minded or nave about the problems ahead. But if Islamist movements wish to maintain their powerful base of social support in the Muslim world, they are going to have to deliver what the people want. It is a luxury for them to remain out of power where they can freely criticize but not take responsibility for policies. Hamas now faces major political problems in just making the infrastructure of Palestine to work. We can expect that Hamas will want to share the burdens of power broadly across the whole spectrum of Palestinian society. It will now have to examine the effectiveness of engaging in
 guerrilla or even terrorist attacks. My guess is that Hamas will refrain from such actions as it explores the possibility of political progress. But if Hamas comes to believe that diplomacy and negotiations are not working, if it believes that Israel is not serious about giving up almost all of the West Bank, then it will probably resign from power and return to the armed struggle. It obviously cannot do both simultaneously. The problem is that neither the Likud party, nor the warrior Sharon, had any intention of really giving the Palestinians a united, functional and sovereign state in the West Bank. They wanted to maintain dominant Israeli control with lots of settlements. That is why we have no peace today, not because of terrorism. Terrorism is the result of unending occupation.Hamas will now speak with a powerful political voice that has powerful popular backing among Palestinians. Israel now faces a major challenge: will it become serious about permitting a viable Palestinian state to emerge, or will it continue delaying tactics the key strategy of Sharonas Israel continues to create new facts on the ground?   

[IslamCity] The Prophet and the people who opposed him

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam alaikum,  For all those "pious" Muslims engaging in violent and destructive protest against the cartoon, should take a time out read the life of our beloved Prophet (SAW). It is sad that a section of Muslims are engaging in destruction and killing as a means to protest against the Cartoons that depicted our Prophet as violent man. If you believe the cartoons were wrong, then why would you engage in the negative activitiesthe cartoon not to indirectly implies Muslims practice?Oh my Muslims: So will you not use your reason? (Surat al-Mu'minun: 79-80)  He has made an example for you from among yourselves (Surat ar-Rum: 28)  Who is that example that Allah refers in the
 Quran? Who are you following?Fee Amaniallah  Maqsud  www.islamicminds.tk   The Prophet and the people who opposed himAbdul Malik Mujahid <%subHotDealsBox_b 2, 2%>Bleeding from head to toe, battered and exhausted, he was faced with a choice. Should he or shouldn't he seek to destroy the people who had just humiliated him by having their children chase him out of town while throwing stones at him? And this was simply for sharing his message and seeking help for his people. 
The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was in Taif, a lush town of green palm trees, fruits and vegetables, about 50 miles southeast of his arid hometown Makkah. He was hoping that perhaps the people of this town would be receptive to his message, which had been rejected by most of the Makkans for over a decade.  But the people of Taif proved just as cruel and intolerant. Not only did they scorn his message of God's Oneness, they turned their youth against the Prophet. In the face of this misery, an angel was sent and presented him with an option: have the whole town be destroyed, by God's will, for such arrogance and hatefulness.   He could have done it. He could have asked that this valley of cruel people be crushed. But he didn't.   No, he told the Angel. Don't destroy the people of Taif. Instead he prayed for their salvation.  That is just one example of how this man, who God describes as a "mercy to
 mankind" (Quran 21:107) dealt with those who opposed him. It's just one of many examples in the life of a person who faced constant death threats, attempts on his life, abuse and humiliation at the hands of those threatened by his simple but profound message: there is no god but God and Muhammad is His Messenger. Peace and blessings be upon him.   But the people of Taif were not the only ones who tasted of this mercy. He would pray for his enemies all the time. Two of his bitterest enemies, Abu Jahl and Omar ibn al-Khattab were also the objects of his prayers.  The Prophet made similar Duas (supplications) for his people on a regular basis: "O God! Guide my people, for they know not," he would pray, as he and his followers were tortured, humiliated, scorned and mocked.   On another occasion, some Companions came to the Prophet and said: "O Messenger of God! The tribe of Daus have committed disbelief and disobeyed (your commands). Supplicate God
 against them!" Contrary to the people’s expectations, the Prophet said: "O Allah! Guide Daus and let them come to us." (Bukhari).  These are just a few glimpses of how the Prophet dealt with those who opposed him. These were people who didn't just fight his message on an intellectual level. These were individuals bent on destroying him, his family, his followers and Islam itself.  Mercy after VictorySkeptics may argue that it is easy to be merciful and forgiving when one is in a position of weakness. But in a position of power or when the opportunity presents itself, humans are known for abusing their authority and punishing their enemies brutally.  Here, too, the Prophet demonstrated exemplary behavior. The most well-known example of this is during the peaceful takeover of Mecca by the Muslims. At a time when he could have easily destroyed his worst enemies, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, showed remarkable
 restraint. This is even more significant given the culture of vicious tribal rivalry and guilt by association practiced at the time.  Among those the Prophet forgave were Abu Sufyan, a Quraysh leader who was among those who led the opposition to Islam; Ikrimah ibn Abu Jahl, an enemy whose father was one of the Prophet’s most vehement opponents; Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, who ripped open the corpse of the Prophet’s beloved uncle Hamza after the Battle of Uhud and ripped out his heart and liver; Wahshi, the man commissioned by Hind to murder Hamza; Utbah, the son of another of the Prophet’s greatest foes, Abu Lahab, who had divorced the Prophet’s daughter Ruqayyah under pressure from his father. None of these individuals were harmed or punished for their crimes.  The Prophet also made sure that none of the Muslims with him at the time of the takeover acted on their understandable feelings of vengeance for those 

[IslamCity] Cartoon Controversy - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Interview

[Maqsud Sobhani]

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***
{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] 
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---BeginMessage---









Sacred Knowledge Newsletter
February 24, 2006

CARTOON CONTROVERSY - SHAYKHHAMZAINTERVIEW 

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf recently appeared on Danish television to discuss the current cartoon controversy.
You can view the video in the following link. Please share this with your friends. Shaykh Hamza provides important points for us to remember.
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf’s Video Interview - Cartoon Controversy
Also, please share our current exclusive promotion with your friends and family:

In lieuof the current cartoon controversy, we are offering the Description of the Prophet CD free withpurchases of $50.
Please visit our online store to purchase other quality products from us. We will automaticallyadd this CD free in your package prior to shipping.
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• Product page 

IMAM ZAID SHAKIR'S ARTICLE 
Clash of the Uncivilized: Insights on the Cartoon Controversy
An excerpt from Imam Zaid's article:
As individuals, we find it difficult to support the Prophet, peace and blessings of God upon him, by adorning ourselves with his lofty character traits, or reviving His Sunnah in our daily lives.
To read more, please click here:
http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=92


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[IslamCity] Free speech is not a licence to insult

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikum,  Once again the Muslims have been succuessfully able to turn support and sympathy toward them into condemnation and call for restraint. If free speech is a right, then boycotting certain product is also our right, and while this boycott was taking momentum and spreading across the globe (very rightly so), the actions of many Muslims in the manner they are protesting has drawn its own criticism.   Why do we have to be so reactionary? Is it because we
 have become deafitist in our mentality? Is it our need for instant gratification? Or our faith is so fragile that it requires such action?  While I wholehearedtly condemn the publication of the cartoons, I equally condemn the manner in which many of the Muslims are protesting. It is a pity that our actions are almost justifying the contents of the some of the cartoons that we are trying to protest!   I bet some of those cartoonists or newspaper editors are saying right about now “See I told you so!”  I found the article below insightful, something people at both sides of the debate can benefit from.   Maqsud Sobhani  Www.islamicminds.tk   -  Free speech is not a licence to insult. Insults do not justify violence, writes Maher Mughrabi.  In the 1890s, a Frenchman called Edouard Drumont ran a newspaper full of crude caricatures of Jews and articles that railed against their increasing dominance of French and European life, reaching fever pitch during the treason trial of French officer Alfred Dreyfus. Drumont called his paper La Libre Parole - "The Free Speech".  As the Danish cartoon row spreads and editors hurry to wrap themselves in the mantle of Voltaire, it is worth noting that most of civilised Europe today gladly accepts (and in some cases even legislates to preserve) a
 taboo on the kinds of free speech that Drumont sought to establish.  Indeed, anyone who has worked in newspapers knows that a certain degree of self-censorship comes with the territory. There are pictures we deem too graphic for the front page (or any page), letters too offensive and pointless to be worthy of publication, words that are termed obscene and excluded from copy.  None of this means that newspapers should be prevented from criticising Islam, Muslims or their prophet. But looking at the 12 Danish cartoons (which, thanks to the internet, is now easy to do) any of their criticisms - of the oppression of women, or the crime of suicide bombing - could have been made with just as much force and considerably more wit without
 breaching the taboo on representing the prophet Muhammad. Indeed, several of the cartoons don't depict him, and most of the others are such crude stereotypes that if they weren't labelled with his name, it would be impossible to tell them apart from other Muslim-baiting efforts.  Lars Refn's cartoon, which instead showed a schoolboy called Muhammad writing on a blackboard in Farsi that "Jyllands-Posten's journalists are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs", earned him a rebuke from one online "Voltaire", who called him "a coward who does not understand the seriousness of the Muslim threat to free speech".  That a threat exists is clear, thanks to the murder of Theo van Gogh and other cases. But is this the best way to address it?
 Above all, the idea that Europe is somehow being taken over by wealthy or radical Muslims is as bigoted and repulsive as the idea of a century ago that it was being taken over by wealthy or radical Jews.  Those Muslims who have threatened violence over the cartoons live mostly in the very Muslim world that many European Muslims have migrated from. However, such thuggish behaviour, wherever it occurs, is testament to a lack of power; only when you feel disenfranchised in those avenues of life that really matter can you become exercised over such trivia.  Those who insist that this row is about upholding Islam need to ask themselves at whom the prohibition on depicting the
 prophet is aimed. The answer is Muslims, so that they do not fall into idolatry and revering the messenger instead of his message. No Muslim is at risk of worshipping the images in these cartoons. So what's the beef?  This controversy is about power. Muslim communities in the West feel under suspicion and under siege through the mere fact of their faith. Muslims in the Muslim world feel war has been declared on them by an adversary who controls the world. In such circumstances, the one power people feel they have left is to insist on their dignity.  At no time since the Middle Ages has the atmosphere between Islam and the West been more charged, or the power to insult so
 instantaneous.  In November 2001, the Scottish Daily Mail ran an essay on the prophet by historian John Casey with an engraving of a man in furs and a turban bedecked with pearls and feathers, intended to be Muhammad.  The phones ran so h

[IslamCity] Pilgrims at Heart

[Maqsud Sobhani]

  Pilgrims at Heart By EBRAHIM MOOSA  Published: January 10, 2006  http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/10/opinion/10Moosa.htmlAS the pilgrims in Mecca complete the annual ritual of pilgrimage today, Muslims across the globe will begin the Id al-Adha, the three-day Feast of Sacrifice, in solidarity with them.  For Muslims seeking to make sense of the annual pilgrimage, a question arises: is the hajj only an elaborate ritual?   Hajj literally means, "to continuously strive to reach one's goal." The rite of visiting the sacred sites need be completed only once in a lifetime, but its meaning ought to be enduring. Yet, no pilgrim can claim strictly to imitate the Prophet Muhammad in this
 ritual. Such despotic literalness would only invest the observance with fraudulence. Is the imagination not at the heart of pilgrimage?  Centuries ago, the Arabic literary figure and philosopher, Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi, who died in 1023, mused about what the pilgrimage might have meant for those who could not make it to Mecca. Sadly, we can now only mourn the lost text of Tawhidi, but there is more than a hint in his title: "Undertaking the Mental Pilgrimage When the Physical Pilgrimage Is Impossible."  Exile, sacrifice and atonement underscore the commandment of pilgrimage in Muslim religious life. The faithful re-enact the pilgrimage rituals in imitation of their spiritual forbears. They relive exile by treading in the footsteps of Abraham. But the hajj also recalls the temporary exile of Adam and Eve, who wandered the earth after their expulsion from paradise. According to Muslim tradition, Adam and Eve reconciled with God in the desert of Arabia. The spot
 where they met each other again and atoned - an obligatory destination for pilgrims - is called Arafat, from the Arabic word 'arafa, "to know."   The theme of knowing and imagining the divine is embroidered through the trials of Abraham and his family. After Abraham's first child, Ishmael, was born to his slave wife Hagar, he was confronted by the jealousy of his other wife, Sarah, who was then childless. God upgraded this domestic squabble into a legacy issue for the Patriarch and his admirers. But he ordered the dutiful Abraham to banish Hagar and Ishmael to Arabia.  Years later, Muslim tradition holds, Abraham reconciled with Hagar and Ishmael. But more trials awaited. This time Abraham had to do the unthinkable: sacrifice his son. Mainstream Muslim tradition believes that the son in question was Ishmael, while a minority view holds that it was Isaac, Sarah's son. But after a miraculous substitution of Ishmael (or Isaac) by a ram, Abraham's reputation was
 sealed as the "friend of God."   To express their loathing of evil, the pilgrims will participate in that ancient drama of Abraham and Ishmael. They will first stone three pillars, each symbolizing Satan's failed attempts to mislead Abraham's family. Then, in a place called Mina, meaning "desires," each pilgrim will sacrifice an animal. With this act they seek to replace their destructive desires with productive ones. Away from Mecca, non-pilgrims with means will also slaughter animals as a show of hospitality to friends, family and the indigent. Pilgrimage embodies exile by requiring seekers to suspend customary routine, enter new environments and live by new rhythms and rituals. For a limited time, pilgrims experience the transitions and dislocations exiles perpetually undergo. As a performance, the pilgrimage links people to a past shared by several Abrahamic traditions, just as, by bringing together Muslims from a great multiplicity of cultures, it celebrates the
 diversity of our common humanity. Pilgrims return home enriched by this cosmopolitan outlook, but with a new appreciation for their own origins.   In the 1980's, the Iranian revolution inspired some attempts to use the hajj as a platform to express Muslim grievances. But such efforts ended in 1987, when Iranian pilgrims clashed with Saudi authorities, resulting in carnage and mayhem.   The more subtle political significance of the hajj, however, persists in the realm of the spiritual imagination. To play on the words of the poet Federico García Lorca: the imagination hovers above ritual, the way fragrance hovers over a flower.   Pilgrimage ought to fire the imagination and celebrate transitions, creativity and innovation. And imagination is a weapon, one that tyrants and autocrats fear. If we find it in short supply in the corridors of power, that does not mean that the rest of us should be deprived of its constructive possibilities as well.  
 A prolific 13th century mystic, Ibn Arabi, wrote that pilgrims were mistaken if they believed that swarming like moths around the cube-like stone centerpiece, the Kaaba in the Holy Mosque, was the loftiest act of venerating God. Rather, noted Ibn Arabi, it was the human heart that deserved the highest sanctity. For neither the offerings made, nor the hardships endured, reaches the divine. Instead it is the 

[IslamCity] Rage on Rue Picasso

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikum,
As the Muslims all over the world celebrated the end of Ramadan with Eid ul Fitr, Paris was burning; reaction to death of two young boy of African-Muslim background but real causes firmly rooted in years of neglect, discrimination, and forced integration into French society; turned into hopelessness, confusion, bleak future and eventually rage. 
I am not a social scientist, so I cannot speak about the long-term consequences of this event or how best to tackle the situation. Someone like Tareq Ramadan, who I thought has a very strong following in France, would be a great person (I am hoping to hear something from him). 
One of the problems that I know the Muslims in France are facing (there are many, compare to the US) is deliberate secular integration into the French society. As bad as some of us think of US, it is still the most religious society in the western hemisphere, as opposed to France, which is the least. 
“In Clichy-sous-Bois, where it all began, calm was restored after the fourth night by young men from the local mosque. The government was thankful and hopes similar measures can work elsewhere.”
However this didn’t bode well for many in France. 
They are saying, “Calling on mosques to restore order "validates the postulate that Islam is the answer to everything,"”
The author of the following article says, “Yet without the mosque, it would seem, the only option for the people along allee Albert Camus is what the author of "The Stranger" called "the tender indifference of the world."”
Maqsud Sobhani
www.islamicminds.tk 
(Please visit my newly designed site)
--
Rage on Rue Picasso Will the riots swell the ranks of jihadists in Europe?
By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek

Nov. 14, 2005 issue - Word of the deaths spread quickly through Clichy-sous-Bois, a grim collection of housing projects an hour by train and bus from the center of Paris. Two teenage boys had been electrocuted while trying to hide near a transformer the night of Oct. 27. Rumor said they were running from police. Soon, dozens of angry young men came from the soulless high-rises looking for cops to fight and cars to burn on streets named, as it happens, after heroes of French culture: boulevard Emile Zola, allee Albert Camus, rue Picasso. Dead white men. "It's Baghdad here," the rioters shouted. Night after night last week, rage spread through the ghettos that ring Paris, then beyond to every corner of France. When a tear-gas canister exploded near a mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois on the fourth violent evening, a new cry went up. "Now this is war," said one of the vandals. Others cried "jihad."
It was neither, in fact, and Paris—the capital known to tourists—was not burning. But by using cell-phone text messages to coordinate their incendiary flash-mobs, rioters in the city's suburbs managed to burn thousands of cars, as well as buses, warehouses and stores. More than 200 people were arrested and there were many injuries, some serious, even if by last weekend no one had been killed. (The Los Angeles riots of 1992, by contrast, took the lives of more than 50 people.) What really shook the French government, and badly, was its inability to contain the metastasizing anger. Decades of French policies intended to force the integration of immigrants and their children—and children's children—into French society had failed, and no Plan B was apparent. Fears also grew that in the age of terror, rage like this could swell the ranks of radical Islamists in the heart of Europe.
The first and most obvious casualty was the reputation of French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. He's been angling for the presidency in 2007, posturing as France's most confident can-do politician. During the first days of violence, Sarkozy denounced the gangs burning cars as "scum" and told them in effect to bring it on. They did with a vengeance, and didn't stop. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who is Sarkozy's main rival, reined him in publicly. Prodded by President Jacques Chirac, the two of them eventually tried to show a united front behind the slogan "Firmness and justice." That didn't work either.
The greatest challenge in the days to come is to keep the violent fringe from winning even wider sympathy. There are more than 12 million people of Muslim origin in Western Europe, roughly half of them in France. Many have adapted easily and well to European life. But constant tensions and deep resentments do remain, especially among those left behind in blighted communities that others managed to escape. In a report issued just days before the violence broke out, the French government counted 751 neighborhoods deemed "sensitive urban zones." Most of the people there have roots in Africa and Islam. Average unemployment is 21 percent, more than twice the national average, and rising. Among men under 25, the rate jumps to 36 

[IslamCity] Pakistan Earthquake-A Personal Account

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam alaikum
This is an account written by Dr. Arshad, a prominient physician and Muslim activist from Milwaukee. I have known him for years while I was living in Milwaukee, USA. He has recently visited Pakistan and here is what he has to share.

Fee Amanillah
Maqsud
www.islamicminds.tk 


Pakistan Earthquake-A Personal Account
Observations on a visit to Balakot and surrounding areas hit by the earthquake, from October 24-28, 2005As we descended from towering pine covered mountains, which had been defaced by giant landslides, we saw utter devastation in the valley. Rocks were strewn all around the roads and embankments of recently constructed road were plucked away by the falling rocks. There were wide cracks in
 the road and the surrounding ground.Severe destruction was all over, a five story hotel disappeared into the ground with the roof a few feet below the level of the road. There was a lonely building still standing with a top of a minaret from the nearby mosque lying in its parking lot. The dense neighborhood on a hill had completely disappeared, with a heap of rubble spread all over the hill and its residents buried waiting for a proper burial.The pain and anguish I saw in the eyes and the faces of the victims in Balakot and in the hospitals in Abbotabad and Islamabad was unforgettable. One father, Mr. Munsif, elected chairman of the local council, who had lost his son in the collapsed school building along with hundreds of students and teachers, described the chaos after the
 earthquake. His description was so vivid as he was talking to us, it was as if he was seeing everything unfold in front of his eyes again. It was as if "Qiyamah "was unfolding, as mountains were splitting, rocks fell with thunderous noises and buildings were collapsing. People were screaming and running all over trying to look for their loved ones, trying to pull them from the rubble and trying to help those who were severely hurt or bleeding. He described the helplessness, agitation and severe frustration parents experienced as they could not get to their children who were under the collapsed buildings, despite trying for three days. They could see their children writhing in pain, screaming for help but without picks and shovels they could not get to them. And slowly the cries for
 help went silent. He told us that as evening sets in, an eerie quiet descends on the town and the loneliness becomes very painful, as he remembers his son, friends and other family members. Most of the surviving townspeople sleep under the open sky shivering in the cold, staring in the darkness, trying to make sense of the dreadful darkness which befell them.I had the pleasure of talking to a cute little nine year old girl, Lariba, who told me how she survived thirteen hours under the rubble. She was one of seven girls out of a class of fifteen who survived. She told us how her teacher kept on asking for water before she passed away. While under the collapsed building she kept on reciting the Shahada which kept her going. She had lost her brother and during the conversation she was clinging
 tightly to her father, who had a tired, painful look in his eyes and a facial _expression of a man who was deeply hurt.I also met a handsome young 13 year old boy who was rescued after seven hours. He was acting bravely while fetching supplies for his family who were located a few miles from Balakot. He was in a hamlet sleeping under a plastic sheet. His face was flushed from the sun constantly beating on him, and fortunately the wounds on his legs were healing well. I wish that I had more time to talk to him. I fear that the long winter may become challenging for his family and everyone else.One of my colleagues in Milwaukee had insisted that I give his donation directly to some of the victims. This was one of the most difficult things for me to do, but hospital volunteers
 helped and after a while I was moving among patients in a robotic manner as if emotions of the tragedy had paralyzed me. At times I felt uncomfortable, especially when one young girl kept refusing to take the money although she was severely injured, as if asking me, will this money bring me my family back? These are proud people. She behaved in just the same way as my younger sister would behave when someone would give her money as a gift. I had been involved in a small way with both the crises that took place in Bosnia and Kosovo, but this is the only one in which I cried. The feeling of loss was as profound as when I received the news that my father had passed away.My friend Mahmoud and his sister, the most gentle and kindest souls that I have ever known are managing a support
 surgical unit in Islamabad stadium for the seriously injured patients from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences who are recuperating. Mahmoud works frequently from 8 am until midnight and is off from his business, as he feels this work is a blessing and a privilege. Enthusiastic young student volunteers 

[IslamCity] Taking the Prophet (pbuh) As Our Example

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Taking the Prophet (pbuh) As Our Example
Islamic Center of Irvine-Jummuah Khutba 10/14/05
Author: Suhaib Webb 
   
Let us begin by asking a question, this question can be applied to 
everyone in the room, whether you are males or females, students or 
working professionals, young or old. The question is- If you were 
to die today and leave this world, how will you be remembered by 
your neighbors, your coworkers, fellow students, your spouse and 
children? What type of impact are you going to leave behind? If you 
were to disappear today what type of legacy would you leave? Allah
(swt) says, 

Every soul of this earth will taste death {Quran 3: 185}

If we look at the life of our blessed Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)…He 
left an incredible impact that can be measured in many different 
ways.

First, his impact on the Community:Allah(swt) is the best of 
witnesses and He bears witness to the effect the Prophet had on his 
local community in Surat Al-Imran… 

Indeed, they were enemies and Allah joined their hearts in love 
with the message and the light of the Prophet, so that by His 
Grace, they united in brotherhood {3:103}

Let us look at the actual statements from the community of the 
Prophet. The greatest museeba (trial) to ever befall the Ummah 
was the death of the Prophet. It was too overwhelming for the 
Muslims to comprehend that the revelation had truly been stopped 
and the connection between them and the heavens had ceased forever. 
The Prophet himself reminded his Ummah in a Hadith, Whenever you 
are inflicted with a tribulation indeed remember the affliction of 
my death and you will find that that infliction is nothing compared 
to my death. Umm Salama, the wife of the Prophet, detailed the 
time of his death, it was on a Monday and he was buried on 
Wednesday after Isha`a prayer. The death of the Prophet had not 
hit them until that night after prayer, as Umm Salama described 
We heard the sounds of shovels outside and we began to weep and 
shriek because then we realized that the Prophet was gone… and 
the masjid of the Prophet began to weep and all of Medina began 
to shake with convulsions out of the intense sadness and grief 
at the loss of the Prophet. His burial came after prayer- Can 
you imagine being in the shoes of Omar ibn Khattaab or Aisha when 
the time of Fajr prayer came after the burial? Belal stood for the 
athan and when he came to pronounce the name of the Prophet, he 
could not continue and he weeped instead. Um Salama says that at 
that moment of the athan, Medina began to convulse again. The 
effect of his prophetic light can be seen on the community from 
their reaction to his death. This is the impact of the Prophet 
on his community. 

Second, his impact on his family:Who was the first person to 
visit the Prophet's grave-? It was not Abu Bakr or Omar or Ali,
may Allah bless them all - but it was his daughter, Fatima, to 
visit his grave first. Do we have this connection with our 
daughters like that the prophet built with his daughter? When 
Fatima arrived at the grave and saw men putting dirt on it, she 
asked Anas ibn Malik how he could throw dirt upon the grave of the 
Prophet? At her father's grave, Fatima lamented, Indeed, patience 
is noteworthy in every situation except with death of you because 
at your death patience is extinguished. After the death of the 
Prophet, Fatima was never seen smiling again until her own death. 
What type of effect do we have on our children? When we get old 
will we be surprised that the connection with our children is not 
there when we need them most? Parents, we must get involved with 
our children's lives -ask how their day was, see what type of 
friends they have, take them to the masjid and tell them you are 
passing on the waseeya(legacy) of the Prophet.
Next, how did the wives of the Prophet remember him? It is said 
that the reflection of man is his wife and the reflection of a 
woman is her husband Just one statement tells all- Umm Salama 
said that After the death of the Prophet, whenever any hardship 
would befall me I would remember the absence of the Prophet and 
that would completely overshadow any difficulty that I ever faced 
in my life. Maybe some of us ask how can we put the death of the 
Prophet into a trans-modern reality? Ask yourself when was the last 
time you read a book of hadith or on the seerah of the Prophet's 
life? So if your not connected to the Prophet it as though he is 
dead in our life - do we feel the same sadness?


Third, his impact on his friends:The best friend of the Prophet 
was not Abu Bakr, but first it was Allah(swt) and then Abu Bakr
(raa). It is well-known that Abu Bakr, at the time of the 
Prophet's death, had great composure and exhibitied great 
leadership although he was still overcome with sadness. On that 
day, Abu Bakr described, The eyes are crying but it does not 
bother me and the right of this weeping belongs to Al-Sayed 
(Prophet Muhammad), the possessor of great blessings 

[IslamCity] Earthquake victims struggling to survive

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Earthquake victims struggling to survive 10/20/2005 - Social - Article Ref: IV0510-2827Number of comments: By: iViews StaffIviews* - 
http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IV0510-2827








A Kashmiri woman grieves for her family member, killed by the October 8 earthquake, beside a new grave in a mountain village of Comsar in the Neelum Valley, north of Muzaffarabad.
Several days after the deadly earthquake hit northern Pakistan, the people of Kashmir who survived the earthquake are in a desperate situation. Nearly a third of Pakistan's injured still have not been reached by doctors. And when nightfall comes, with temperatures already close to freezing, they're left with very little shelter. The UN's relief agency, OCHA, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies both say they've been given only a fraction of the money they need. It's an unusually slow response to a disaster they say.
More than 50,000 people died in the earthquake; more than that will die through the winter if supplies don't reach them soon. The most pressing need is for winterized tents.
The World Health Organization has expressed concern about the lack of shelter and safe water for people affected by the earthquake in Pakistan.
In addition to the people who have died due to the earthquake more than 65,000 are reported to have been injured, according to official government figures. Many have still received no treatment. Teams from the Ministry of Health and from international field hospitals are operating around the clock to find and treat the injured. Many people with normally non-life threatening injuries who have not yet received treatment or have not been accessed by relief teams are now at serious risk of fatal infection or crush syndrome.Supplies of winterized tents and blankets are becoming essential as winter approaches.
Sustainable supplies of clean water are essential for health facilities - for both drinking water and sanitation. Hundreds of thousands of liters are needed for people's survival and to protect against disease outbreaks. Some purification plants are already in Muzaffarbad and more mobile plants are on the way.
The Pakistan Institute for Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad is still receiving up to 300 patients daily and is sending stabilized patients to other public hospitals around the country. The hospital has put up tents in the grounds for families of patients.







An injured Kashmiri survivor waits for treatment in the mountainous village of Butnar in the Neelum Walley, northern Pakistan
Pakistan Armed Forces has set up a field hospital at Islamabad airport, and with staff from the Ministry of Health, this facility is undertaking triage of patients and dispatch to adequate treatment facilities in Islamabad and in other cities according to the preliminary diagnosis.
In Muzaffarabad, a district of 600,000 people has been massively damaged. Half of the population has no access to any kind of services.
The Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Muzaffarabad, the main health facility, has been extensively damaged and is closed. Most other health facilities in the district are thought to have been destroyed or severely damaged.
The Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences is the only hospital in Muzaffarabed which managed to withstand the earthquake. It is now carrying out dozens of major and minor surgical interventions in its operating theatres every day.
In spite of the fact that many Ministry of Health staff are direct or indirect victims of the disaster, many have started to report back for duty.
Medical and surgical field teams report 2000 patients are being treated daily in Muzaffarabad. The first three days after the earthquake, most patients were treated for trauma injuries. Currently, about 40% of patients are treated for trauma; the remainder being largely acute respiratory infections.
The scale of the suffering is immense, but for some reason, perhaps disaster fatigue, perhaps geographical distance, the money pledged isn't matching what's needed. The people here will be dependent on aid, say the agencies, for at least the next six months -- a long and difficult operation because of the lack of infrastructure and the rugged terrain. The money and supplies are urgently needed and the international community must act fast to save lives.






IslamiCity through it's parent organization HADI (Human Assistance  Development International) is mobilizing its existing partners and resources to respond to the crises. There is a desperate need for tents, blankets, medical kits, food aid, water and trauma counseling for those affected.
Please support HADI's emergency fund please click on the link below.







		 Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.

 

 





***
{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine 

Donate to Islamic Relief [IslamCity] A Muslim Put Incharge of $26 Billion Assets

[Maqsud Sobhani]

A Muslim Put Incharge of $26 Billion Assets

10-17-05 14:21 RIVA D. ATLAS Surprise Choice Will Manage Harvard's Billion After months of searching for a new overseer of its $26 billion in assets, Harvard University yesterday named a manager from the bond powerhouse Pimco to the job. The new investment chief, Mohamed A. El-Erian, an emerging markets bond specialist, is a surprising choice to fill what is one of the most prestigious investment management jobs in America. Mr. El-Erian, 47, is not well known on Wall Street outside the small world of bond specialists. Nor is he a Harvard alumnus. Harvard officials said the university chose him because his broad views on global economies would be useful in managing a portfolio that has made investments from timber to hedge funds. He will be stepping into some rather large shoes. The former investment manager, Jack R. Meyer, helped increase Harvard's assets from $4.7 billion in 1990 to $26 billion today,
 recording annual returns of 15.9 percent on average. But the compensation paid to Mr. Meyer and his team of money managers came under criticism from alumni who questioned how the university could justify increasing tuition when it pays its money managers so much more than other universities do. Mr. Meyer was paid $7.2 million last year, and his two star money managers, David Mittelman and Maurice Samuels, made more than $25 million each. (In comparison, the manager of Yale's $12.7 billion endowment was paid $1.03 million in compensation and benefits for the year ended June 2003.) Despite the previous outcry from alumni, Harvard has promised Mr. El-Erian "a similar compensation package" to what Mr. Meyer received, Harvard's treasurer, James F. Rothenberg, said yesterday. A fair amount of Mr. El-Erian's pay will be pegged to the overall performance of the Harvard portfolio, Mr. Rothenberg said, but he declined to be more specific. While Mr. El-Erian has
 never managed a stock portfolio, his experience with emerging markets debt means "he has had a lot of experience with risky assets," Mr. Rothenberg said. Louis R. Morrell, the chief investment officer at Wake Forest University, which has invested in Pimco, including Mr. El-Erian's fund, praised his ability. "He's extremely competent as portfolio manager, a very talented guy," he said. Yet Mr. Morrell said he was somewhat surprised by the choice, noting that managing a university endowment is different from managing a portfolio at a money management company. "You are taking someone with a strong investment background and skills, and he's going into an environment where a lot of the job is going to be dealing with politics and management," he said. "There's a lot of politics involved in dealing with the investment committee and dealing with the alumni and dealing with the faculty." Harvard's president, Lawrence H. Summers, has long had a goal of more
 closely tying the Harvard Management Company, the separate nonprofit entity that manages the university's money, to the university, and Mr. El-Erian's job will span both institutions. Mr. El-Erian, who is trained as an economist, will also serve on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, and as deputy treasurer of the university. He will become president and chief executive of Harvard Management Company, the nonprofit that handles the university's funds. "Among Mohamed's many attributes are his intelligence, global perspective and commitment to excellence," Mr. Summers said in a statement. Mr. El-Erian's appointment was reported yesterday by The Boston Globe. The search began after Mr. Meyer announced in January that he was stepping down to start his own investment firm. Mr. Meyer departed at the end of September, and will continue to manage up to $500 million of Harvard's money. Several prominent investment managers who were informally approached
 to gauge their interest in the Harvard position were cool to the idea, noting the criticism of the compensation. As returns on stocks and other investments have sunk to the low single digits, it will be hard for anyone to approach Mr. Meyer's long-term track record, investment managers said. In fiscal 2005, the Harvard endowment had a return of 19.2 percent, net of fees and expenses. That topped the median return of 15.8 percent among the top 25 university endowments, but lagged Yale, which reported that its endowment had a 22.3 percent return for the year. "This is a huge opportunity that comes with a lot of responsibility," Mr. El-Erian said in an interview. "There are a number of investment opportunities Harvard can exploit because of its unique structure," he said. "Harvard can be paid for being patient in a world that is increasingly less so." The son of an Egyptian ambassador to France, Mr. El-Erian was born in New York but was educated
 in England, receiving a bachelor's degree from Cambridge University and a master's degree and doctorate in economics from Oxford. He spent 15 years at the International Monetary 

[IslamCity] Practical guide to Ramadan for Children

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Practical guide to Ramadan for Children 
By Maqsud Sobhani (www.islamicminds.tk) 

The blessed month of Ramadan is a gift from Allah for the Muslims to purify themselves from their all past sins and negligent actions. Various authentic hadith states that all our past sins are forgiven in this month. We also have the blessed Night of Power (Laylatul Qadr) to earn virtues of 1000 months during Ramadan. Much has been written about the virtues of this month and we all possess considerable knowledge as well. 

I want to discus some pratical things we can do with our children. Far too often, when it comes to religious matters, we get very serious, especially with our children. We tend to separate religion from rest of our lives, forgetting that our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saw) never taught us to have double life; one religious and one secular. Because how we portray religious affairs to our children, they often view complying with them more as punishment from parents than our duty toward Allah. I have seen parents making their children doing extra prayer or recitation of Quran as a form of punishment for something he/she may have done. No wonder so many children grow up viewing praying/reciting as punishment! 

On the contrary, that was not how our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah upon him) was. He was a jolly person who often laughed and even made jokes, even with children! 

Narrated Anas bin Malik (r), The Prophet (s) used to mix with us to the extent that he would say to a younger brother of mine (he had a bird called Umair), "O father of Umair! What did do the Nughair (a kind of bird)?" [Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 8, #150]
The hadith doesn’t sound “funny” if you do not know the background of the hadith. Anas bin Malik (r) himself was quite young and he is referring to a younger brother of his who had a bird called Umair. However Umair died and the younger brother would not stop crying. When the prophet came, he jokingly addressed the younger brother as “father of Umair” (or father of the bird!) and rhymed Nughair with Umair. Now, of course we are dealing with translation here, also what was said was at a different time and different geographical place. So the humor may be lost a bit in translation. 

The fact, however remains, that our prophet had a sense of humor. So did his companions. 

Narrated 'Uqba bin Al-Harith: I saw Abu Bakr carrying Al-Hasan and saying, "Let my father be sacrificed for you; you resemble the Prophet and not 'Ali," while 'Ali was laughing at this. [Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 5, 93]
There are many other Hadiths out there that shows the sense of humor, jolly nature of the Prophet of Allah and his companions and the love and compassion between them. 

The Prophet also advised us to speak to people at their level. Therefore it is only normal that we should communicate with our children at their level. We should try to raise their interest about Islam and not try to shove it down their throat. Unless the children develop genuine interest in Islam, the long-term outlook is not good. How long can you really force them to pray or fast, if they do not develop any understanding or desire for those themselves? 

Last year, while I was still in USA, we were trying to convince my then 8-year-old nephew to fast only half a day. We temped him with different things if he fasts for half a day, yet he wouldn’t fast! He had some fear inside about going without food for much of the day and he just wasn’t ready for it. We of course didn’t push him anymore to fast. This year things were different. Before Ramadan, he asked my mother to know when is Ramadan starting, and when my mother asked him, if he would fast, he said yes. For whatever reason he was just ready this time around. He has already fasted the first few days of Ramadan and ready to fast some more, Alhamdulillah! So instead of pushing our children to do something that they are not ready, it is always best to be a good role model for them to emulate. If we carry ourselves like the way we should as a good Muslim (I mean a good Muslim in the complete sense), then
 rest assured that chances are your children will follow your footsteps sooner or later. 

I want focus here on our children and how we can engage them during Ramadan, making things interesting, fun and joyous, even if they are not fasting. They need to understand Ramadan is not only abstaining from food (the adults need to understand it even more!) but there is much more about Ramadan. 

The ideas below are not all my; some are mine, some I have modified; the original is from www.soundvision.com. 
1. Hold a family meeting about Ramadan 
A week before Ramadan, hold a family meeting to explain what Ramadan is, that the sighting of the moon indicates it’s beginning, what Muslims do and how the family's schedule will change. Also ask for suggestions of what everyone would like to do during the month. For instance, may be set up a specifi

[IslamCity] Muslim Women in Science

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Muslim Women in Science 9/21/2005 - Education Social - Article Ref: IC0509-2797Number of comments: 13Opinion Summary: Agree:12 Disagree:1 Neutral:0 By: Corey HabbasIslamiCity* - 





There is an ingrained value in every Muslim, man and woman alike, to pursue knowledge and to learn about God's truth by studying the surrounding world. Prophet Mohammad , advised his followers to seek knowledge wherever it can be found. In keeping with this value, Muslim women are continuing to make headway in the field of science and their graduation ratios often exceed those of western women in pursuing scientific degrees according to figures recently released by UNESCO.Yet, very seldom do positive depictions of Muslim women get portrayed by the western mainstream media. In some cases, media profit depends upon a production team's ability to feed the myopic fantasies and stereotypes etched in the minds of many non-Muslims. Westerners are comfortable with stereotypes that Muslim women are oppressed because of
 Islam, which could not be further from the truth. The Islamic message, which stresses gender equity and rights for women, is often corrupted by competing cultural values that have no basis in Islam scripture.The quest for knowledge has always applied to women in Islam. God has made no difference between genders in this area. The Prophet once said: "Seeking knowledge is a mandate for every Muslim (male and female)." (Sahih Bukhari)During the International Congress on Muslim Women in Science Towards a Better Future, King Mohamed VI stressed that "...the integrated development of the principles of Islam and of scientific knowledge must be achieved irrespective of gender", according to a UNESCO report on the gathering that took place in 2000.Muslim women in science have become leaders in their fields, receiving awards,
 earning patents and making contribution that further man's knowledge of the world, and yet the eyes of western cameras see through these women as if they do not exist. A tendency to avoid praise for Muslim achievements hides the seldom explored comparisons.The fact is that the United States falls behind six Muslim countries in the percentage of women graduating in science to the total science graduate population. The countries whose ratio of women science graduates exceeds that of the United States are Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Qatar and Turkey. Morocco exceeds the United States in the ratio of women engineering graduates as a percentage of the science graduate population.Rehab Eman, a Muslim woman with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering, and a Masters degree in Islamic Studies on Jerusalem credits Islamic values for what inspired her to pursue knowledge in a scientific field. Instead of holding Eman back, the Muslim men
 in her life, including her father and brother, encouraged her to work hard for her education. "My lecturers were men, my supporters were men, my sponsors were men. They believed in my talents...," she shares.Traditionally, Muslim women have not been discouraged in the sciences to the extent that Western women have, which might be why statistics show such high ratios of Muslim women graduates in science fields as a percentage to the total science graduate population. However, in Muslim countries the real hurdles that affect women's education are the very same hurdles that affect men's education. These hurdles take the form of poverty, illiteracy, political instability and the policy of foreign powers.Data that explains the real problem can be found by comparing the total educated populations of countries and regions of the world. A high degree of illiteracy and low levels of secondary school enrollment account for why there are less graduates overall in
 poorer countries than there are in wealthier regions like North America and Europe. In locales defined by UNESCO in their recent report, gross secondary school enrollment ratios are very low: Africa (below 40%), West Asia (below 60%), and East Asia (below 75%).While some Islamophobic pundits are all too ready to make a correlation between poor education and what type of religion one practices, more accurate relationships can find their foundation in hard figures. National wealth and education forge a tight relationship. According to data from the UIS (UNESCO Institute for Statistics), national wealth is directly related to educational enrollment. Statistics show that the vast majority of medium-high and high income countries have a secondary school enrollment ratio above 90 percent. Poorer countries don't have the resources needed to make education a priority. Undoubtedly, the next question that gets asked is, "How do countries become poor?" Well, to the dismay of many
 hostile to the deen, poverty and Islam cannot be correlated any more successfully than illiteracy and Islam. While there is more than enough scriptural proof that Islam encourages education for both men and women, some fail to 

[IslamCity] From Sha'baan to Ramadan; From Katrina to Rita

[Maqsud Sobhani]

ICOI Khutbah 168 - September 23, 2005 From Sha'baan to Ramadan; From Katrina to Rita
http://www.islamiccenterofirvine.com/articles.php?action="">

This is the month of Sha’baan, the eighth montyh of the Islamic lunar calendar, the month that the Prophet (pbuh) fasted more than any other month besides Ramadaan and when asked, he responded;
ÐÇß ÔåÑ íÛÝá ÇáäÇÓ Úäå Èíä ÑÌÈ æ ÑãÖÇä º æ åæ ÔåÑ ÊÑÝÚ Ýíå ÇáÇÚãÇá Çáì ÑÈ ÇáÚÇáãíä ºæ ÇÍÈ Çä ÊÑÝÚ Úãáì æ ÇäÇ ÕÇÆã“There is a month between Rajab and Ramadaan that most people are heedless of. This is the month when human deeds are annually taken for evaluation, and I wish to be in a state of fasting when my deeds are being considerd.” The Prophet said that on the 15th of Sha’baan “Allah forgives all sincere repenters except the mushaahin, and qatil-un-nafs.” A companion asked , O Prophet of Allah, we know the one who is qatil-un-nafs (committer of suicide), but what is a mushahin? He replied, “the hypocrite, who causes trouble, seeking to cause hatred between loved ones, breaker of family ties, the arrogant, the habitually intoxicated, one who disrespects parents.” Let us benefit from the Mercy of Allah and ensure that we eradicate all these negative traits if we harbor even a taint of any of
 these.Katrina to RitaHurricane Katrina was a powerful hurricane that caused extensive and severe damage over 180,000 square miles (290,000 km²) of the southeastern United States (an area larger than the United Kingdom), including the major city of New Orleans, Louisiana in the past week. Katrina was judged as the worst natural disaster to hit the United States to date. The world has watched amazed as the planet's only superpower struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with some saying the chaos has exposed flaws and deep divisions in American society. Now, we are on the verge of experiencing a virtual repeat through Hurricane Rita. From all this we learn that the world is anything but serene, all too vulnerable to natural threats; both earthly (earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis…) and celestial (meteors…). Any of these hazards may strike at any time and can cause considerable loss to life and property. What is common to all these threats is that in
 just moments they can reduce a city, with all its inhabitants, to ruin. That each disaster serves the purpose of reminding humankind of its inherent weaknesses, reminds us of our enduring vulnerability in the face of nature; making us realize that neither wealth nor authority, neither science nor technology has any power to resist the forces greater than ourselves. That we know the frailty of our place in the universe, just like millions poor and oppressed peoples all over the world. Allah did not make this world a permanent place. This is a temporary world and everything here is finite and all things have a time limit. Neither are the good things of this world forever nor are the bad things eternal. Rather, all this is a challenge to us; the greatest of which is, how we respond in the face of such challenges. We note that tragedy carries a tremendous power within it. A tragedy can become a positive reference or a negative reference, depending on the meaning one attaches to
 it. The more powerful the tragedy, the more powerful the reference. Power to cause grief, power to cause mourning, and power to cause sadness. It also carries power to generate cooperation, power to cause reflection, and power to cause change. After this ... we can not go to bed another night without reflecting on the advice of our beloved Prophet (pbuh) who said; “When going to sleep do not assume you will live to see the dawn, when waking up do not assume you will live to see the sunset; take precaution from your health against sickness, take from your life what will benefit you in death." we must find more ways to help in sharing the burden of others and to make life more pleasant. We must learn to forgive any hurt or injuries that come our way and treat others as we wish to be treated in every encounter. We must be more cognizant of the fact that our smiles, our words, our expressions, our support; each can make the difference to someone somewhere who is wrestling
 with a misfortune of life. Sha’baan to RamadaanAs we ponder over the state of affairs, as we reflect on the passing of Sha’baan; we anticipate the coming of Ramadaan, that noble month of the Qur’an. So, let us prepare ourselves to welcome that special month to the “T” …. tilawah (recitation of Qur’an), tahajjud (late-night prayers), taraweeh, tasbeehat (glorifying Allah), tadharru' (increased humble supplication), tatawwu' (extra prayers), tasahhur (gatting up for suhoor), taubah (repentance), tawadu’ (humility) and tafakkur (contemplation) and tadabbur (reflection) please visit and join:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IslamicMinds/__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com 

[IslamCity] Ibn Rajab Selection

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Ibn Rajab SelectionByImam Zaid Shakir 

















In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful Ibn Rajab, May Allah Have Mercy on him, says in Lata'if al-Ma'arif: In that Satan has been chained up during the month of Ramadan; and the fires of the carnal lusts have died down due to fasting; and the authority of the soul's vain inclination has been placed in isolation, and power has been turned over to the rule of the intellect, which rules justly; the sinner now has no excuse. The clouds of heedlessness! Disperse from over the hearts. The suns of piety and faith! Rise for this new day. The pages wherein are recorded the deeds of the Fasting people! Elevate yourselves. The hearts of the fasters! Be filled with humility. The feet of those exerting themselves strenuously in their devotions! Prostrate to your Lord and bow in humility to Him. The eyes of those passing the night in prayer! Do not sleep. The sins of the penitent! Do not return. The earth
 of the soul's vain inclinations! Absorb your water. The sky of the elevated souls! Hold back your rain. The lightning of longing for the Divine! Shine for the lovers of God. The intimate thoughts of the Gnostics! Graze in the pastures of Godly bliss. The aspirations of all who love other than God! May you find no contentment with your imperfect beloved. Junayd! Be overjoyed. Shibli! Come quickly. Rabi'a! Listen carefully. During these days the tables of Divine Blessings have been spread out for the fasters, and there is no one who has not been invited to the feast. The Almighty says, "O our folk! Respond to the caller of God." Al-Ahqaf: 31 O the lofty spiritual aspirations of the believers! Hasten. Paradise is for one who responds promptly and attains the blessings. Woe unto whomsoever is turned away at the door, and misses the invitation. May Allah bless us all to respond to the invitation He extends to us during this blessed
 month. http://zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=64please visit and join:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IslamicMinds/__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com 






***
{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] 
--

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[IslamCity] The Essential Arts

[Maqsud Sobhani]

The Essential Arts 8/21/2005 - Religious - Article Ref: IC0508-2774Number of comments: 6 By: Sadullah KhanIslamiCity* - 







"As you do, so shall you be rewarded." Prophet Muhammad Realize, as you project yourself, so shall you be perceived.The art of navigating the road of life is not to be a victim of what happens to you; but rather to be an architect of the road and making things happen.The art of problem-solving lies in your attitude and approach to the problem; think positively, often the problem lies in how we look at things.The art of positive thinking is to have a positive image of yourself not by proclaiming your goodness in words but proclaim your goodness in deeds.The art of being you-nique is not in how you appear but rather in letting what you do and how you do it be a reflection of what you are.You are the only "you" that there is; no one can think with your mind, speak with your voice
 and smile with your face, cry with your tears or act with your body but you. So be the best "you" that you can be.As you choose good, decent and pleasant people to associate with, make yourself deserving of those associations. (Would you befriend "you" if you were someone else?)The art of speaking is not in the volume of words or sound but rather in the wisdom of the content. (Do not say all that you think and think carefully of what you say).The art of criticism lies not in succeeding to find faults, but in finding a means whereby the fault is realized and corrected.The art of disagreement is not in being hostile and adamant but in being able to disagree without being disagreeable.The art of joyfulness is not only being happy yourself but in increasing that joy by bringing happiness to the lives of others.The art of inspiring is to uplift others by suggestion and demonstration rather than by
 injunction and dictation.The art of social living is not to appear better than others but in bringing out the best in yourself and facilitate bringing out the best of others.The art of solitude is not only in occupying yourself when you are alone but in enjoying the company of the one you are alone with.The art of personality is to commit yourself to being of benefit to the world and occupy yourself with so much striving to improve yourself that you have less time to criticize others.The art of life is not passing time in this world (see Quran 57:20), but is to be like the candle recognizing the inevitability of death while bringing light to the world as it is consumed.The reality of life is change, the challenge of life is to live it to its full, the lesson of life is its temporariness, the wisdom of life is to learn from the past and
 leave a better world for the future.

Sadullah Khan is the Director of Islamic Center of Irvine. He has presented lectures on Islamic Civilization at California State University at Dominguez Hills. He is a frequent lecturer for the Academy of Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles). He is also an advisor to the Chancellor's Committee on Religion Ethics and Values at UCLA and serves as Director of Muslim Affairs at USC (University of Southern California).
You can watch his lectures on Empowerment at IslamiTV




Dimensions of the QuranThe lucid and clear reflections of Sa'dullah Khan, his smooth sailing in the oceans of Quranic wisdom and beauty is most encouraging and pleasantly inviting the English reader of the Quran to plunge again into the ultimate source of enlightenment and empowerment that we have. 
Click Here to Buyplease visit and join:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IslamicMinds/
		 Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page 






***
{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} 
(Holy Quran-16:125)

{And who is better in speech than he who [says: My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness), and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: I am one of the Muslims.} (Holy Quran-41:33)
 
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels. [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] 

The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all. 
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] 
--

All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in 

[IslamCity] HACKED! How to protect yourself

[Maqsud Sobhani]

HACKED! How to protect yourself

Maqsud Sobhani
www.islamicminds.tk 

Salam alaikum,

We have received threats in the past and not so distant past that our group “islamicminds” may be deleted. I am sure you have heard similar things about your groups as well. 

These people and their friends were involved in deleting other groups in the past. They deleted groups such as islam_in_yaho-o, islamtoall. These are so called Muslims but those who think they are the only one in the right path and every other Muslim is either Mushrik or Kafir. Therefore they feel absolutely no remorse or guilt of their actions. 

We have taken extra ordinary precaution after consulting with some network security experts and other people. Rest is up to Allah. If our group does get deleted, then there is not much we can do except that Allah will judge between us in the hereafter. 

There are several ways a hacker can try to delete a group. But before they can delete they will have to get access to the owner yahoo ID’s password. We have spent countless hours in trying to figure out the ways one can hack your account and figuring out best ways you can protect yourself from such a hacker. Whether you are an owner of a yahoo group or not, all of us are owner of our own yahoo id’s. Everything that has a yahoo ID will find the following information beneficial. I know many people, including myself, who have lost their yahoo ids to hackers. 

Below we will discuss 3 ways one can hack into your account and possible solutions. The suggestions are based on “professional help” as well as our own research. 

Method one:
One can directly try to hack into your account, whether by guessing or using some program to figure out your password. Believe it or not, this is the most difficult way to get password. 
This process is called “brute force attack”. 
However, yahoo has a very tedious login process that does 3-tier checking making any brute-force attack unsuccessful (almost). 

How to protect:
Make your password mixed case with numbers and special char with 8-12 characters, there is no way of hacking into it. You can make it longer up to 20. 
For example: John12*BIG, [EMAIL PROTECTED] 

Explanation:
Any brute force attack (or new Xieve attack) uses permutation techniques, say, if the password is ZZ, the engine has to test around 26 * 26 tries to get that.

A 10 char password will take 26 to the power 10 tries. 
Now if you use mixed case (upper and lower), number and special char, the magnitude will be much higher.
It will be very very time consuming, probably take a super computer type to hack.
Moreover, yahoo won’t allow trying password forever, maximum 25-30 times in a hour. 

Next two methods are much easier and deceiving way to hack. 

Method two:
You can either receive a link in a message or email. I will seem yahoo related and will ask you to fill in your account and password. Once you fill it, the hacker will get access to your password. They immediately changed her password and she couldn't get back into her own account.
I know several people that lost their ID this way. 
How to protect:
Be very careful about a link like that. Always stay with the site of caution. If you are not sure, then don’t fill up the ID/password. 
In case you did and now you are not sure, then immediately go and change your password before the hacker gets to it. 

This one is the scariest and it is a flaw of yahoo. 
Method three:
This one takes someone who knows you or someone you have given him or her information in chatting with them. 
If you go to the “forgot password screen” of yahoo, all you need to know is the person's Birthdate and Zip Code. Then it will ask you their secret security question. 
This secret security question is something you pick when you create your yahoo account. Yahoo offers you a list of 9 questions. You pick one and write down the answer. Often time we pick something that is easy and we are familiar with. Like what is your favorite sports team or your pets name, etc. Many people can be familiar with such “secret questions/answer” of yours. 

Hacking into an account this way is as easy as saying 1, 2, 3. Trust me, I was shocked once I realized how easy it was. There were few hundred people that could have hacked my account that way if they wanted to. 

How to protect:
First of all, be very careful about giving away your personal information online.

Second, you may create a fake Date of birth. You can make a DOB a combination of your and someone else’s birthday or any other special day that you would remember. 

Take precaution: You must maintain a file and write down this information. 
You cannot change DOB of already created accounts. This is only valid for future accounts. 

Third, you can email to yahoo and select your own custom made secret question! I did this and yahoo was very prompt and got back to me within few hours with my own custom made secret question and answer. 

This is the way you can do this:
Go to: http

[IslamCity] Vietnamese Defies Odds to Become A Top Woman in Technology

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Vietnamese Defies Odds to Become A Top Woman in Technology
08-11-05 12:22 
CUONG QUOC NGUYEN 
http://isna.net/index.php?id=35backPID=1tt_news=296

What are the odds for an Asian Muslim woman to move to the top of the corporate ladder in a Texas-based high-tech corporation? Staggering, to say the least. But Leâ Duy Loan has turned those odds into advantages by the sheer power of positive thinking. That attitude has sustained her through numerous adversities and helped her to become a Senior Fellow at Texas Instruments (TI), the company that produced the first silicon transistors for the mass market, and designed the world’s first transistor radio and pocket calculator. It must be said that in the fields of science and technology, religion and ethnicity are seldom viewed as differentiating factors, but these areas are not completely insulated from that “male thing.” Indeed, it is not typical for female engineers to attain the senior fellowship level at TI. But then, Le is not your typical female engineer either. In the technology realm, she became the first Asian, the first woman, and one of the
 youngest individuals in TI’s 75-year history to be nominated and elected to the rank of TI Senior Fellow in 2002. This position is equivalent to the staff position of Senior Vice President, and is granted only to individuals who demonstrate extraordinary leadership and technical skills. The Senior Fellow title and its responsibilities are based on peer recognition. It is only awarded to the top 0.1 percent of the technical population, or the top .025 percent of the total TI population. To date, Le remains the only Le remains the only woman in TI’s history to hold this prestigious title worldwide. She earned that recognition on the basis of the 20 patents she holds, the financial contribution she makes to TI’s bottom line, the impact she has on the high-tech industry, as well as for her ability to inspire and empower others to give their very best. Asked how she managed to overcome all the odds to rise to the top in a still male-dominated field, Le’s answer was she
 considered her ethnicity and gender, and even her tiny 5’2” frame, as advantages. “When you stand among a room full of towering males, the focus will be turned toward you because of these particularities. It is up to you to fully take advantage of that attention and make the most of that window of attention, and leave your mark,” said Le. Don’t let her diminutive frame fool you into thinking that she is easy to overpower or intimidate either. That small body is a deadly weapon, literally, with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, a difficult form of martial arts she practices, not to defend herself, but to unleash her excess energy during the time she had to live away from her family. “I took Tae Kwon Do to help me keep my sanity while away from my loved ones,” she said. Le began working at TI after she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Texas at Austin, with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) in 1982. Since then, she has moved up the career
 ladder within the same company, one patent at a time, until she stacked all 20 of them on TI’s hall of fame. Le’s achievements and work at TI have escaped the spotlight that is usually reserved for the computer whiz kids from Silicon Valley who authored the “Killer Apps” that dazzle their users and brought their authors fame and fortune. However, her inventions are providing the backbone that enables those memory- hungry applications to perform. There is no doubt that without her accomplishments, some of these killer apps may still be in the field of dreams. Consider her contribution to the invention of the synchronous DRAM (SDRAM) that broke the bottleneck in the memory to CPU interface and brought about a fundamental change in computer performance. This has allowed multimedia applications such as streaming audio and video, video conferencing, and faster Internet access to become a reality. Her technical leadership has enabled TI to stay in the lead of the field of digital signal
 processors (DSP) and analog devices, the engines driving the digitization of electronics and a wide range of communication devices, from wireless cellular phones to high-speed broadband information access to the home, to Internet music devices and digital cameras. In her current position as TI’s Digital Signal Process (DSP) Systems Advanced Technology Ramp Manager, Le leads the ramp of the company’s leading-edge DSP products on the most advanced silicon technology nodes. In 2004, one of the DSP chips under Le’s watch was recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest single core DSP in the world. Le’s technical accomplishments contributed to her becoming the first female Board of Director at National Instruments, a publicly traded NASDAQ company that dominates the market in test and measurement, where she is serving as a Board member today. She is also a Women in Technology International 

[IslamCity] Sheikh Ahmad Deedat Dies at 87

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam alaikum. A truly sad news for those of us who grew up watching Deedat's debates and speeches against Missionaries. He was speaking for Islam, when there was hardly anyone else doing it. He was an enlighted person, when there was total stagnation among Musilms. May Allah give him the best of the hereafter. 
Maqsud
www.islamicminds.tk 
Sheikh Ahmad Deedat Dies at 87






Deedat was considered by many as more a scholar of the Bible than the Qur'an.
CAIRO, August 8, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Famed Muslim preacher and debater Sheikh Ahmed Deedat died Monday, August 8, at 87, leaving behind a legacy of propagating Islam and defending it against missionaries.
Founder of the Islamic Propagation Center International (IPCI) in Durban, South Africa, Deedat distributed more than twenty million copies of his books and audio tapes free of charge for the purpose of da`wah.
In South Africa where he lived, hundreds of people have entered Islam Including a large number of missionaries.
He delivered lectures all over the world and successfully engaged Christian Evangelists in public debates.
One of his most famous debates was “Was Christ Crucified?” when he impressively debated Bishop Josh McDowell in Durban in 1981.
Famous books by Deedat included "The Choice - Between Islam and Christianity; "Is the Bible God’s Word?"; "Al Qur’an the Miracle of Miracles" ; "What the Bible says about Muhammad (PBUH)?"; and "Crucifixion or Cruci-Fiction?"
Deedat, who was born in 1918 in the Indian district of Surat, has been bedridden since 1996 when he suffered a serious stroke.
Excellent Debater







Sheikh Deedat did not have much formal schooling, but he was self-taught through experience and had a penchant for reading, debating, discussion, and a profound sense of commitment to a mission and goal, according to his Web site.
He was driven and goal oriented. He was focused and never let up until the job was done. He was sharp, perceptive, forthright, fiery, and daring in his challenge of those whom he debated particularly against those who equal his missionary zeal and sense of audacity, the Web site added.
"Formal schooling did not destroy his creative prowess, his tenacity, ambition, drive, and sheer daring to swim upstream."
Sheikh Deedat was considered by many as more a scholar of the Bible than the Qur'an and was more familiar and adroit with its teachings.
He had an insight and perspective of the Bible which made many Christians he came into contact with rethink and re-examine their faith, particularly those aspects of the Bible and the Qur'an that deal with the divine mission and life of Prophet Jesus, the Web site says.
In 1986, the King Faisal Foundation awarded the King Faisal International Prize for Service of Islam to Deedat. He shared the prize with prominent French Muslim intellectual and philosopher Roger Garaudy.
When he suffered a stroke, he lost his speech, his most potent gift that he used so effectively in his debates to propagate Islam.
He delivered his last lecture in Sydney, Australia, in 1996 just before his chronic illness. The lecture was considered to be one of his most passionate talks. __Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com 






***
{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} 
(Holy Quran-16:125)

{And who is better in speech than he who [says: My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness), and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: I am one of the Muslims.} (Holy Quran-41:33)
 
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels. [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] 

The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all. 
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] 
--

All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. 

If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title change to daily digest. 








  
  

[IslamCity] The Destruction Of Mecca

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam alaikum,
If you are worried about US politicians calling for the destruction of Muslim Holy sites, then no need to worry. Our Wahabi brothers are doing it for the Americans!

The Destruction Of Mecca Saudi Hardliners Wiping Out Their Own Heritage By Daniel Howden The Independent - UK8-5-5









Historic Mecca, the cradle of Islam, is being buried in an unprecedented onslaught by religious zealots. 
 
Almost all of the rich and multi-layered history of the holy city is gone. The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades. 
 
Now the actual birthplace of the Prophet Mohamed is facing the bulldozers, with the connivance of Saudi religious authorities whose hardline interpretation of Islam is compelling them to wipe out their own heritage. 
 
It is the same oil-rich orthodoxy that pumped money into the Taliban as they prepared to detonate the Bamiyan buddhas in 2000. And the same doctrine - violently opposed to all forms of idolatry - that this week decreed that the Saudis' own king be buried in an unmarked desert grave. 
 
A Saudi architect, Sami Angawi, who is an acknowledged specialist on the region's Islamic architecture, told The Independent that the final farewell to Mecca is imminent: "What we are witnessing are the last days of Mecca and Medina." 
 
According to Dr Angawi - who has dedicated his life to preserving Islam's two holiest cities - as few as 20 structures are left that date back to the lifetime of the Prophet 1,400 years ago and those that remain could be bulldozed at any time. "This is the end of history in Mecca and Medina and the end of their future," said Dr Angawi. 
 
Mecca is the most visited pilgrimage site in the world. It is home to the Grand Mosque and, along with the nearby city of Medina which houses the Prophet's tomb, receives four million people annually as they undertake the Islamic duty of the Haj and Umra pilgrimages. 
 
The driving force behind the demolition campaign that has transformed these cities is Wahhabism. This, the austere state faith of Saudi Arabia, was imported by the al-Saud tribal chieftains when they conquered the region in the 1920s. 
 
The motive behind the destruction is the Wahhabists' fanatical fear that places of historical and religious interest could give rise to idolatry or polytheism, the worship of multiple and potentially equal gods. 
 
The practice of idolatry in Saudi Arabia remains, in principle at least, punishable by beheading. This same literalism mandates that advertising posters can and need to be altered. The walls of Jeddah are adorned with ads featuring people deliberately missing an eye or with a foot painted over. These contrived imperfections are the most glaring sign of an orthodoxy that tolerates nothing which fosters adulation of the graven image. Nothing can, or can be seen to, interfere with a person's devotion to Allah. 
 
"At the root of the problem is Wahhabism," says Dr Angawi. "They have a big complex about idolatry and anything that relates to the Prophet." 
 
The Wahhabists now have the birthplace of the Prophet in their sights. The site survived redevelopment early in the reign of King Abdul al-Aziz ibn Saud 50 years ago when the architect for a library there persuaded the absolute ruler to allow him to keep the remains under the new structure. That concession is under threat after Saudi authorities approved plans to "update" the library with a new structure that would concrete over the existing foundations and their priceless remains. 
 
Dr Angawi is the descendant of a respected merchant family in Jeddah and a leading figure in the Hijaz - a swath of the kingdom that includes the holy cities and runs from the mountains bordering Yemen in the south to the northern shores of the Red Sea and the frontier with Jordan. He established the Haj Research Centre two decades ago to preserve the rich history of Mecca and Medina. Yet it has largely been a doomed effort. He says that the bulldozers could come "at any time" and the Prophet's birthplace would be gone in a single night. 
 
He is not alone in his concerns. The Gulf Institute, an independent news-gathering group, has publicised what it says is a fatwa, issued by the senior Saudi council of religious scholars in 1994, stating that preserving historical sites "could lead to polytheism and idolatry". 
 
Ali al-Ahmed, the head of the organisation, formerly known as the Saudi Institute, said: "The destruction of Islamic landmarks in Hijaz is the largest in history, and worse than the desecration of the Koran." 
 
Most of the buildings have suffered the same fate as the house of Ali-Oraid, the grandson of the Prophet, which was identified and excavated by Dr Angawi. After its discovery, King Fahd ordered that it be bulldozed before it could become a pilgrimage site. 
 
"The bulldozer is there and they take only two hours to destroy everything. It has no sensitivity to 

[IslamCity] Why the early Muslims were the best of believers

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Why the early Muslims were the best of believersBY ABID ISHAQ 5 August 2005 
http://www.islamicity.com/m/news_frame.asp?Frame=1referenceID=21883
THE righteous before us understood the religion of Allah as well as the essence of this life and its inescapable leading to the Hereafter, so they felt aversion for the distractions and the tribulations of the world. They found no sleep and their heart kept away from desires. They kept above the insignificant concerns of life. Their biographies abound with stories that show their striving in righteousness, repentance and their strong will in worship and humbleness. 

The following lines will fill us with respect, admiration and love for our righteous predecessors. 
Al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "Whoever competes with you in the religion (Deen) then try to surpass him, and whoever competes with you in the matters of this life then throw it back at him." 
Whenever he missed a prayer in congregation, Ibn Umar, may Allah have mercy on him, used to fast one day, pray for one whole night and free a slave.
Abu Musa al-Ashari, may Allah have mercy on him, used to apply himself so much in worship at the end of his life that he was told, "Why don’t you slow down and be gentle with yourself?" He replied, "When the horses are released for a race and are close to the finish line, they exert all the strength they have. What is left of my life is less than that." He maintained the same level of devotion and worship until he died.
Mawriq al-Ajli, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "I did not find an example, for the believer in this life, better than a man on a plank in the sea, imploring, ‘O Lord, O Lord’, hoping that Allah would save him."
Usamah, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "Whenever you see Sufyan ath-Thawri, may Allah have mercy on him, it is as if you see someone in a ship fearing to drown. One would often hear him say, ‘O Lord save me, save me!" Fatima bint Abdil Malik, the wife of the Khalifah Umar ibn Abdil-Aziz, may Allah have mercy on them, said, "I have never seen a person offering a prayer or fasting more than he did, or a person fearing the Lord more than him. After offering the Isha prayers, he would sit down and cry until he became sleepy, then he would wake up again and continue crying until sleep overtook him."
Amir ibn Abdullah, may Allah have mercy on him, was once asked, "How can you tolerate being awake all night, and thirsty in the intense heat of the day?" He replied, "Is it anything more than postponing the food of the day to nighttime, and the sleep of the night to daytime? This is not a big matter." When the night came, he would say, "Fear of the heat of hellfire has taken sleep from me." And he would not sleep until dawn.
Ahmad ibn Harb, may Allah have Mercy on him, said, "I wonder how the one who knows that above him, paradise is being embellished, and below him, the hell-fire is being kindled, and yet sleeps between them!" Waqi said, "Al Amash was almost seventy years old and he never missed the first takbirah for salah in the mosque. I used to visit him frequently for more than two years and never saw him make up for even one rakah."
Abu Hayan, may Allah have mercy on him, related that his father said, "Ar-Rabi ibn Khuthaym was crippled and used to be carried to the congregational prayer. So people told him, "You have an excuse (for not coming)." He said, "I hear the call to prayer; so if you can come to it even by crawling, do so", paraphrasing a hadith.
Abull-Mawahib ibn Sarsari said concerning Imam Abul-Qasim ibn Asakir, may Allah have mercy on him, "I have never seen the like of him, and none had encompassed as many good characteristics as he did concerning his adherence to one way for forty years, making prayers in the first row unless he had an excuse, itikaf during Ramadan and the ten days of Zhul-Hijjah, and the lack of desire to accumulate properties and build houses, as he forbade himself these. He turned away any position of imam or speaker, though they were offered to him, and he devoted himself to enjoin good and forbid evil, and he would not fear anyone in that."please visit and join:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IslamicMinds/__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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***
{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 

[IslamCity] Injustice Caused to the Innocent

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Jummuah Khutbah-Br. Sadullah Khan
Islamic Center of Irvine
7/15/05

Take not life - which Allah has made sacred - except for just cause.
And if anyone is slain wrongfully, we have given his heir authority
to demand qisas or to forgive: but let no one exceed bounds in the
matter of taking life; for he is guided by Law). [Qur'an 17:33]


Sanctity of Life
The sanctity of human life in Islam is paramount, without condition
or qualification:
Say: "Come, I will rehearse what God hath (really) prohibited you
from: Join not anything as equal with Him; be good to your parents;
kill not your children on a plea of want--We provide sustenance for
you and for them; come not nigh to shameful deeds, whether open or
secret; take not life, which God hath made sacred, except by way of
justice and law. Thus doth He command you, that ye may learn wisdom"
[Q 6:151]


Two Major Dilemmas
As the death toll of the London bombing rises and the eyes of
suspicion fall ever more sharply on Muslims, we can't help but
despair at the ever spiraling violence in our world today, and it
pains us deeply that a significant portion of violence that occurs
is attributed to Muslims and seemingly in the name of Islam. Of
course, Muslims world-wide condemned the attack in London; have
stated that Islam is a religion of peace; that "Islamic terror" is
neither sacred nor Islamic.



Dilemma 1: We have this dilemma that due to the preponderance of
anti-Muslim imagery in some of the media, many assume that Islam is
synonymous with terror and that whenever there occurs a terror
attack, Muslims are considered guilty by association. This is highly
unfair and immoral. Some Muslims, on the other hand, tend to
cowardly be apologetic for Islam as if Islam itself is somewhat
guilty. Islam is a comprehensive way of life that guides every
aspect of human existence; Islam is Islam and there should be no
apology for being Muslim, ever.


Dilemma 2: That due to suffering and oppression suffered by Muslims
in Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, Iraq … that such terror attacks
(though condemned) could somewhat be understood. That is immoral
too. The suffering of Muslims around the world pains people of
conscience very deeply, and we must realize that the way to end that
suffering is to work to end injustice across the globe. But
remember, "Never let the hatred of a people toward you move you to
commit injustice." [Qur'an 5:8] Earlier in the same chapter, Allah
says: ...let not the hatred of some people in (once) shutting you
out of the Sacred Mosque lead you to transgression (and hostility on
your part). Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, but help
ye not one another in sin and rancor: fear Allah, for Allah is
strict in retribution. [Qur'an 5:2] This verse was initially
revealed to the Prophet and his companions just after the conquest
of Mecca, the inhabitants of which violently opposed the Prophet
from the very beginnings of his ministry. They attacked, tortured,
maimed, and murdered the early Muslims. They starved the Muslims for
three years, directly leading to the deaths of some companions and
tremendously affecting the Prophet's two main pillars of support,
Abu Talib and Khadijah. They killed Sumaya and Yasser in front of
their son Ammar. They drove the Prophet (pbuh) and his followers
from their homes and then seized their property to enrich themselves
and their caravans. They led attack after attack against the Muslims
in Medina, and they nearly killed the Prophet at Uhud. They
treacherously violated the Treaty of Hudaybiyah, killing the
Prophet's allies within the Sacred Precincts. Yet despite all of
that, Muslims were instructed that they had no license to transgress
against the Makkans.

When the Muslims re-entered Makkah after years of persecution and
attacks against them, one of the Prophet's companions yelled
out, "Today is a day of slaughter! Today, God will debase Quraysh."
When the Prophet (pbuh) learned of this, he became very angry and
responded, "He has spoken incorrectly! Today is a day of mercy." The
Prophet (pbuh) responded to all of the ugliness of Quraysh with
mercy, forgiveness, and kindness. He did not take the opportunity of
war to wantonly slaughter his bitterest enemies.

Our faith does not allow us to undermine the sanctity of life ---
period. Once we let the impropriety of others guide our morality,
then we risk becoming completely amoral, and the Prophet (pbuh) was
sent with the expressed purpose of implementing the highest standard
of human morality.


Forgotten Tragedies  Srebernica
As we condemn all atrocities perpetrated against innocent people,
whether it be organizational terror, institutional terror or state-
sponsored terror; people of conscience should remember the
atrocities that has been suffered buy Muslims, especially in the
last few decades …


More than 3 million Muslims were killed / displaced by the European
colonial powers during and after the occupation of Muslim countries
after World War I and II.

[IslamCity] Pakistan's girl wonder

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam,
I think we call agree, Pakistan has taken a beating in the Media of late. I think this report about the young Pakistani girl, believed to be the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in the world, shows another positive side of Pakistan. She is not only brilliant, she is also articulate, bold and charming! 

Maqsud Sobhani
www.islamicminds.tk 
Pakistan's girl wonder 7/16/2005 - Social Education - Article Ref: SP0507-2745Number of comments: By: Todd BishopSeattle Post* - 
http://www.iviews.com/Articles/articles.asp?ref=SP0507-2745
Sitting down for a personal meeting with Bill Gates this week, 10-year-old Arfa Karim Randhawa asked the Microsoft founder why the company doesn't hire people her age.Under the circumstances, the question wasn't so unreasonable. 
Arfa, a promising software programmer from Faisalabad, Pakistan, is believed to be the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in the world. The designation, given to outside experts who prove their ability to work with Microsoft technologies, has also been achieved by some teenagers. But it's far more common among adults seeking to advance their computer careers.Arfa received the certification when she was still 9, an impressive accomplishment in its own right, according to older programmers who have gone through the process. And others called it an encouraging sign of the continued emergence of women in a country where they have historically struggled to advance.The situation illustrates "another side" of Pakistan, said Anand Yang, director of the University of Washington's Jackson School of International Studies. "That's another reason to celebrate someone like
 her."Ten-year-old Arfa Karim Randhawa of Pakistan, believed to be the youngest person in the world to have earned Microsoft Certified Professional status, visits the company's Redmond campus.Arfa's one-on-one meeting with Gates was part of a visit this week to the company's Redmond campus, arranged and sponsored by Microsoft to better introduce Arfa to the company, and to give people at headquarters a chance to meet her. The week included lab tours and a series of informal sessions with Microsoft executives and employees, including a Pakistani employee group.She made an impression through a combination of charm, flattery and boldness uncommon for someone her age. For example, during Arfa's meeting with Gates, she presented him with a poem she wrote that celebrated his life story. But she also questioned him about what she perceived to be the relatively small proportion of women on the campus."It should be balanced -- an equal amount of men
 and an equal amount of women," she explained afterward.About 75 percent of Microsoft employees are men, according to company data. Recounting their conversation, Arfa said Gates acknowledged her concerns and talked about the broader industry's struggles to increase the proportion of women in technology-related fields.Other topics they discussed included her Muslim faith and her hometown, an industrial city known for its textile businesses.Afterward, Arfa described Gates as an "ideal personality," explaining that he had been second only to Disneyland on her list of things she wanted to see in the United States. Previously unaware of the casual dress code at Microsoft, she said she had expected Gates to be wearing a suit but was surprised to find him in a casual shirt with the top button open."I expected that all the people would be here in suits," she said with a giggle, wearing a hat acquired during her earlier visit to the
 company's Xbox game studios.Later in the afternoon, she sat outside with S. "Soma" Somasegar, a Microsoft corporate vice president, and described her vision for a self-navigating car. He listened to her ideas and told her about some of Microsoft's existing software for cars.To be sure, despite her question to Gates about employing people her age, Microsoft wasn't about to offer a job to someone so young. But Somasegar talked about the possibility of an internship in a few years."The thing that's exciting to me is her passion for technology at this age," said Somasegar, who decided to invite Arfa to Redmond after reading a story about her in MicroNews, an internal company newsletter.The visit to Microsoft headquarters was the culmination of a meteoric rise that has turned Arfa into something of a celebrity in her country. It began at age 5, when she walked by a computer lab at her school and started wondering about those strange "boxes," the
 computers and monitors. Later, when she found out what they did, she was amazed."When you push a button, something magically appears on the box," she said, recalling the experience.She eventually persuaded her father to buy a computer, and she demonstrated unexpected aptitude, using Microsoft PowerPoint and other programs. Encouraged by what she was doing, her father took her to Applied

[IslamCity] Did the Prophet endorse suicide bombing? Anti-Islamic Propaganda by former Muslims

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Did the Prophet endorse suicide bombing? Anti-Islamic Propaganda by "former Muslims"
Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
In this age of internet, there is a new level of anti-Islamic propaganda. It is based on half-truths, no truths and so on. Let alone unsuspecting non-Muslims, many Muslims are falling victims of such propaganda, as they are sometimes feeling confused. The issue has assumed greater significance as some people are perpetrating vile acts of violence, and doing so in the name of Islam.There are Qur'anic verses that, taken in isolation, can easily cause people to misunderstand the message of those verses. But that is only if people intentionally or unintentionally (ignorantly) take those verses in isolation or out of context. It is also an unfortunate fact that, parallel to their glorious contributions, many Muslim exegetes and scholars of the past have added to the confusion, by generalizing issues and views that ought not to be generalized. Once Muslims were in power, especially after a century or so after the Prophet, the issues of
 non-Muslims and minorities have not been dealt with a desired level of Islamic and human sensitivity. Rather, attitude toward non-Muslims have been shaped by the bitter localized conflicts between the Muslims and the Mushrikeen (as well as others).But, even beyond those, there is clearly a prejudiced propaganda against Islam and Muslims that can't be explained merely in terms of ignorance. I produce an example below. In the internet circle, some so-called "former Muslims" have been concertedly spewing their hatred against Islam and Muslims. Among them are Ali Sina (a pseudonym), and Abul Kasem (possibly another pseudonym). Uninformed or less informed readers can easily be duped or confused by their propagandist approach. Ali Sina's pompous half-truths were exposed in one of my articles several years ago. Please see Half-Marriage and the Debate that never was.Anyway, during
 the post 9/11 era, Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) condemned the targeted atrocity against the civilians. He also condemned "suicide bombing". This group of "former Muslims" challenged him by claiming that the Prophet himself has endorsed suicide bombing and thus the condemnation of Yusuf Islam (and others) is of no value, in the face of clear hadith. How did they reach that conclusion? Well, read the following part taken from a writing by Abul Kasem ["Islamic Peace Train a la Brother Yusuf Islam".



Islamic Peace Train a la Brother Yusuf IslamIf you know Mr. Yusuf Islam's email please ask him to read this message and respond. (Ali Sina) http://www.humanists.net/alisina/to_yusuf_islam.htmNow, to add fuel to the fire, here is a Hadith, which clearly sanctions suicide to kill the 'infidels'Mohammed eulogized a person for committing suicide for Allah's cause...9.83.29Volume 9, Book 83, Number 29: Narrated Salama:We went out with the Prophet to Khaibar. A man (from the companions) said, "O 'Amir! Let us hear some of your Huda (camel-driving songs.)" So he sang some of them (i.e. a lyric in harmony with the camels walk). The Prophet said, "Who is the driver (of these camels)?" They said, "Amir." The Prophet said, "May Allah bestow His Mercy on
 him !" The people said, "O Allah's Apostle! Would that you let us enjoy his company longer!" Then 'Amir was killed the following morning. The people said, "The good deeds of 'Amir are lost as he has killed himself." I returned at the time while they were talking about that. I went to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Prophet! Let my father be sacrificed for you! The people claim that 'Amir's good deeds are lost." The Prophet said, "Whoever says so is a liar, for 'Amir will have a double reward as he exerted himself to obey Allah and fought in Allah's Cause. No other way of killing would have granted him greater reward.Can Mr.Yusuf Islam deny this Hadith, which is from Shahih Bukhari, the most trusted Hadith in Islam.


From an ordinary and plain reading of the above hadith, one may easily conclude that as Amir "killed himself", so he committed suicide. Since the Prophet actually eulogized Amir's killing himself, can't one reasonably and conscientiously conclude and argue that the Prophet endorsed suicide bombing? Well, not so fast.One of the problems with many hadiths, even in the most respected collections of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, one can find narrations that are fragmented, incomplete, and sometimes even contradictory. Thus, one can't take a particular hadith in isolation. The above hadith, allegedly supporting suicide bombing, is unambiguously clarified in another hadith: Amir actually had an unintentional/accidental self-inflicted wound. Let us read that hadith from the same collection, Sahih al-Bukhari.

Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 509:Narrated Salama bin Al-Akwa:We went out to Khaibar in the company of the Prophet. While we were proceeding at night, a man from the group said to 'Amir, "O 'Amir! Won't you let us hear your 

[IslamCity] Scholars Try to Curb Sea of Fatwas

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikum,
In the midst of chaos, a wonderful development among the Muslim ummah, when some of the most well recognized scholars got together to curb sea of fatwas (religious rulings) against other Muslims, especially regarding calling other Muslims Kafir (non Muslim). The scholars were from both Shia and Sunni and represented about 8 schools of jurisprudence. Scholars said, such rulings could only come from legitimate sources. They also called for greater understanding between Islam and Christianity. 
The scholars included “Grand Imam Sheikh Al Azhar Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi; Grand Ayatollah Al Sayyid Ali Al Sistani; Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Jumaa; a compendium of Shi'i clerics (both Ja'fari and Zeidi); Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman Ahmad Bin Hamad Al Khalili; the Islamic Fiqh Academy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the Grand Council for Religious Affairs, Turkey; Grand Mufti of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Sheikh Izzeddine Al Khateeb Al Tamimi, and the members of its National Fatwa Committee; and Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Al Qaradawi.” (source: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=49982)
Maqsud Sobhani
www.islamicminds.tk 
Scholars Try to Curb "Sea of Fatwas"
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2005-07/07/article01.shtml
AMMAN, July 7, 2005 (IslamOnline.net  News Agencies) – Top Muslim scholars agreed fatwas (religious edicts) on labeling other Muslims as “apostate” should be limited to scholars with religious authority, urging to unify the words and stances of Muslims to highlight the Islamic teachings of moderation, tolerance and respect for the other.
Wrapping up their meeting in the Jordanian capital Amman Wednesday, July 6, the 170 Muslim scholars from 40 countries also proposed to form an “Islamic-Christian alliance” to clear misconceptions about Islam, Reuters said.
"Declaring that person an apostate is impossible, verily his or her blood, honour and property are sacrosanct," said the final statement of the International Islamic Conference.
"The issuance of religious edicts is limited to qualified Muslim scholars in the eight schools of jurisprudence," added the statement, read out by Jordanian Religious Affairs Minister Abdul-Salam Al-Abadi.
The Islamic conference, titled “The True Islam and its Role in Modern Society”, was opened by King Abdullah II Monday, to discuss the challenges encountering Muslims and obstacles facing Islam.
The meeting, organized by the Jordanian ministry of religions affairs, also tackled Islam's stance on extremism, terrorism, reform and human rights.
Unity
The meeting called for "casting aside disagreement between Muslims and unifying their words and stances".
The conference’s final statement was based on fatwas issued by 10 top Muslim scholars - including Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Egypt’s mufti, Sheikh Ali Gomaa – that fatwas must only be in the hands of qualified scholars recognized by the eight Islamic schools of thought.
At the start of the three-day conference, King Abdullah II condemned religious extremism which, he said, sullied the image of Islam and called for Muslim countries to harmonize their schools of jurisprudence.
“Divisions within the global Islamic community, acts of violence and terrorism and accusations of apostasy and the killing of Muslims in the name of Islam violate the spirit of Islam," he said in the opening address Monday.
Alliance
The Islamic conference was also attended by a host of Christian clergymen who proposed the set-up of an “Islamic-Christian” alliance to clear the misconceptions on Islam.
“We should form an alliance between the Arab Christians and moderate Muslims to encounter challenges facing the Arab and Muslim nation,” said bishop Nabil Haddad, director of the Jordanian center for religious co-existence research.
“This alliance will be tasked with showing that Islam is a religion of moderation, peace and tolerance.”
The cancer of Islamophobia has spread across the United States and Europe since the 9/11 attacks.
A recent report released by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) said Muslim minorities across Europe have been experiencing growing distrust, hostility and discrimination since the 2001 attacks.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopted on April 12 a resolution calling for combating defamation campaigns against Islam and Muslims in the West. 
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***
{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

[IslamCity] Cowardly act

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikum. I hope everyone is doing well by the grace of Allah. As I write this letter, the news is unfolding from London about the cowardly acts of bombing in its transportation system. So far at least 40 people are dead and scores seriously injured.

Let us all in unequivocal term condemn this TERRORIST act, who ever may have done it.
Let us not put any condition in this condemnation.
Let us not try to justify.
Let us not try to “understand” the underlying reasons for the bombing.
Let us not try to say they deserve it because Iraqis are being bombarded.

Let us say stop this madness now and demand justice and pray that those that are guilty are brought to justice swiftly.

Let us pray for the dead and their grieving families.

Let us all say if those that perpetrated this sick and cowardly act claim to be “Muslims”, tell them "Not in The Name of Islam" Sign the petition, Condemn Mindless Violence.

Let us all say we will not let our name and wonderful faith be used in any cowardly act.

Maqsud Sobhaniwww.islamicminds.tk 
		 Sell on Yahoo! Auctions  - No fees. Bid on great items.



***
{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} 
(Holy Quran-16:125)

{And who is better in speech than he who [says: My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness), and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: I am one of the Muslims.} (Holy Quran-41:33)
 
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels. [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] 

The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all. 
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] 
--

All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. 

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[IslamCity] Scouting a cultural bridge

[Maqsud Sobhani]

http://isna.net/index.php?id=35backPID=1tt_news=207
All-Muslim groups in Sharon reflect growing popularity nationwide The topic before Sharon's Cub Scout Pack 111 last Saturday was how to use a compass. But the lesson offered by Cubmaster Nabeel Khudairi involved more than just the usual tips about how to find north, or plot a route home. No matter where you are, he said, even in the woods, a compass can help you determine the ''qibla" -- the location of Mecca. That was good practical advice for the scouts, since, like Khudairi, they are practicing Muslims. They bow and kneel in prayer facing Mecca five times a day. The pack is part of an all-Muslim scouting program based at the Islamic Center of New England's mosque in Sharon. In addition to the Cub Scout pack, the program includes a Boy Scout troop, a Venturing Crew, and a Girl Scout troop. The Sharon Boy Scout groups began several years ago, but only recently has the program begun to pick up steam, gaining new members and leaders.
 It also for the first time has a dedicated space -- a former downstairs classroom set aside by the mosque. And a year ago, the Girl Scout troop was formed. ''We are going to become part of Americana," said Abdul R. Samma, a member of the Islamic Center who works as senior district director of the Boy Scouts' Annawon Council. He envisions Sharon's Islamic scouts marching in Memorial Day and Independence Day parades. Samma said the scouting and Islamic traditions go nicely together. ''What scouting is all about is what Islam is all about," he said, noting that they share values such as loyalty and trustworthiness. Muslim-based Boy Scout groups are on the rise across the country, according to Brandi Mantz, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts of America National Council. As of the end of 2004, there were 112 chartered Islamic Boy Scout, Cub Scout, and Venturing Crews, up from 94 in 2002 and 107 in 2003. In Massachusetts, there are 12 Islamic Boy Scout
 troops, Cub Scout packs, or Venturing Crews (all come under the Boy Scouts). The Islamic Center runs six of them: the three in Sharon are active. Three others at its mosque in Quincy are dormant. Others are run by the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts in West Springfield, the Greater Worcester Islamic Center in Worcester, and Alhuda Academy in Shrewsbury. Mantz said her organization, which also has Christian and Jewish-based scouting groups, encourages the establishment of Muslim ones. ''We try to embrace all faiths and provide programs to as many boys as we can -- and young ladies in the venturing program," she said. Ellen Christie, media services director for the Girl Scouts of the USA, said the organization does not keep statistics on the number of Muslim-based Girl Scout troops and groups. But she said anecdotally it knows they exist.Continued... Leaders of the Sharon program say that scouting offers a way for Muslim children, many of them
 from immigrant families, to socialize and form bonds with one another while learning more about Islam. Muslim-based scouting groups engage in the same activities as regular scouting groups, but weave Islamic customs into those activities. ''You try to teach them scouting skills and also get them flavored with their religion at the same time," Khudairi said. An equally important goal of the program is to better connect those young people and their families to the culture at large by immersing them in a distinctly American activity. ''What we are trying to do here is provide these youths . . . a platform where they can not only relate to their own backgrounds, but to the culture and the activities that happen around them," said Nadeem Afridi of Sharon, a Pakistani-born cardiologist who is in training to become a Boy Scout master at the center. The Islamic Center's involvement with scouting dates back to the late 1970s, when Samma introduced it
 at the Quincy mosque. He ran the program for about eight years before leaving to work full-time for the Boy Scouts of America. Since then, the Quincy program has operated off and on. Samma plans to volunteer to reactivate the Quincy scouting program when he retires from his job with the Boy Scouts. The Sharon scout programs, meanwhile, have been growing. Khudairi -- an Iraqi-born optometrist and cubmaster of Pack 111 -- took an interest in scouting because ''my son was reaching an age where I wanted him to have a chance to interact with boys his age and faith background." He also wanted to ''introduce him to an Islamic social setting, and to have him learn some good skills." Twenty children take part in the Cub Scout program, six to eight in the Boy Scouts, and approximately 15 in the Girl Scouts. The Venturing Crew, which is being revived, has several members. Reflecting the membership of the mosque, the children come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds,
 including Pakistani and Moroccan. Seated around the table at the center last Saturday afternoon, Cub Scouts listened to Khudairi describe 

[IslamCity] Faiths join in objecting to abuse of the Koran

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam alaikum

We have all heard about the desecration of Quran at Guantanamo Bay. We have heard all the protests that went on in the Muslim countries and still going on. Just last Friday after Juma prayer, young adults of a particular religious-political group (strongly believes it is all about East Vs. West, forgetting east and west both belongs to Allah!) were handling out flyers for a demonstration for Quran abuse. 

It is true that the Bush administration is guilty of knowing about the incident and also trying to cover them up, if not directly supporting the behavior. However, this is not how the general Americans feel about the incident. As we report the mischief behavior of the Americans, we should also report what the other Americans are doing. Below is such a wonderful story where people of all faith got together in condemning what happened at Guantanamo Bay prison. 

Maqsud Sobhani
www.islamicminds.tk 


Faiths join in objecting to abuse of the Koran

Rally encourages religious tolerance http://isna.net/index.php?id=35backPID=1tt_news=200
For many Michigan Muslims, the abuse of the Koran at Guantanamo Bay isn't just an affront to Islam: It's also an insult to America's tradition of tolerance. So on Friday, they rallied alongside Christians and Jews, whites and blacks, on the steps of the newly opened Islamic Center of America mosque in Dearborn. Under the glaring sun, they preached a message of respect, civility and love for American values. What made the rally different from other Koran-related demonstrations held around the world over the past month was its diverse makeup and repeated declarations of patriotism. "This is not about bashing America, this is not about bashing the U.S. military," declared Imam Hassan Qazwini, head of the Islamic Center. "Those who desecrated the Koran desecrated America itself. They desecrated all our great and noble values. ... We're all Americans and we all love this
 country." Other speakers agreed. "This is not a gathering of Muslims," said David Gad-Harf, executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit. "It's a gathering of Muslims and Jews and Christians and others who all believe that it's against the highest American values to desecrate any religious text." The two leaders, who sometimes have differing political views on the Middle East, stood together at the event. The rally was the second major demonstration in Michigan over the desecration of the Koran by U.S. military officials at the detention center in Cuba where the United States maintains a prison for people suspected of terrorism. Human rights groups have said the facility has mistreated prisoners. "Shut it down!" chanted protesters June 3 outside the Islamic Center of Ann Arbor, referring to the prison. Later that day, the U.S. Southern Command confirmed there were five cases of Koran abuse; in one case, a
 guard's urine splashed onto a Koran inside a detainee's cell. The military's "policy of Koran-handling is obviously serious, respectful and appropriate," Pentagon spokesman Lawrence DiRita said in a statement released June 3. The internal military investigation "confirms that," he said. After Newsweek reported last month that the military was investigating a charge that someone had flushed a Koran in a toilet at Guantanamo, protests flared in several countries, resulting in more than a dozen deaths. The report was retracted, but on May 26, the military said there had been several cases of Koran abuse. People in Dearborn and Ann Arbor are now calling on the Pentagon to apologize to Muslims around the world. Friday's rally took place after afternoon prayers, often the most-attended services for Muslims. Hundreds gathered, some holding up placards reading, "End the Hate," "What would Jesus do?" and "Desecrating the Quran is desecrating JESUS."
 Muslim leaders at the rally and others, like Imam Mohammad Elahi of the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, point out that someone who insults the Koran is also insulting Christian and Jewish figures, given that the Koran contains more mentions of leaders such as Moses and Jesus than of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. "It's not right," said Maya Mortada, 18, of Dearborn, holding a placard Friday that read, "Where is the justice?" "We need to respect all religions," she said.__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com 



***
{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 thos

[IslamCity] Praying for Non-Muslims: An Islamic Perspective

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Praying for Non-Muslims:An Islamic Perspective 
Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
Courtesy: Islamicity [June 23, 2005]http://www.islamicity.com/articles/articles.asp?ref=IC0506-2721p=1
[Readers may also add their feedback at Islamicity's Readers' comments section at the link given above]
As a Muslim, I feel in tune with the humanity (an-Nas), because the Qur'an unequivocally informs that the Muslims must recognize and appreciate their humanity orientation. We are "... created/evolved for the humanity ..." [3/ale Imran/110]. Therefore, being inclusive in my orientation toward the humanity has been natural to me as a Muslim. Indeed, I have been particular in drawing attention of others toward this humanity-orientation, which should be reflected in our prayers and supplications as well. However, a few things provoked or motivated me to take a closer look at this issue of praying for non-Muslims from an Islamic perspective. 
Last year I was invited by a Midwestern community to make presentations to two of their local mosques. I was gratified thatthe presentation "Seeking common grounds and building bridges" was well received. During the question/answer session, apparently, one peripheral subtopic became the focus of the session. 
In the presentation, I emphasized the point that the feelings and communications of Muslims often seem to be self-centered as a community. We are bothered only when the sufferings, atrocities or hardships visit upon us, but we show little care in being in tune with the pain and agony of the rest of the humanity. One of the things I have observed is the lack of any inclusion of the humanity in our prayers. I urged that our prayers (dua) should be inclusive. 
One participant raised the issue whether such prayer would be Islamic and consistent with the Sunnah (the Prophetic practice). It revealed a fundamental gap in many Muslims' understanding of this matter here. 
Recently, the world watched the unfolding of the one of the worst human disasters before their eyes. Since the advent of cables, satellites, instant feeds, internet and so on, the disaster appeared unprecedentedly dramatic. Actually, there has been much worse natural disasters during the last half century, but due to technological and other factors, it could not play out like the way it is possible now in a "smaller world." 
Indonesia was the hardest hit by this tsunami. Most of those who died in Indonesia were Muslims. It was not surprising that some of the Muslim relief organizations, who already have charitable and development works in those area, were the first to respond. The same ethos was not observed in the response of the governments of the rich Arab Muslim-majority countries. However, even though severely constrained in the post-9-11 environment, parallel to the rest of the world, major Muslim organizations in the USA (and elsewhere)came forward to express their horror and sorrow at the disaster and made the call to all to make a difference in the tsunami devastated areas. Several of these Islamic organizations also organized funeral prayers for the deceased Muslimsin absentia and also urged Muslims to be inclusive in their prayer (supplication) in regard to the non-Muslim victims. 
In a widely circulated statement, Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) mentioned: 
"(Washington, D.C., 12/27/04). ... CAIR today asked members of the American Muslim community and all people of conscience worldwide to offer humanitarian assistance and pray for the victims in Sunday's tsunamis in southern Asia.The Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group also expressed condolences to the families of the victims."We are deeply saddened by the news of the tragedy in southern Asia," said CAIR Chairman Omar Ahmad. "We extend our sincerest condolences to the families of those killed and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured as a result of the earthquake. CAIR is working on identifying relief organizations that will provide aid to the affected areas." 
In a separate statement, ISNA mentioned: 
"ISNA joins the Muslim American community in mourning the loss of life in Southern Asia resulting from the earthquake of December 26, 2004. We urge the Muslim community to pray for those affected by the disaster " 
Of course, some Muslim communities, especially in the affected areas, went much further. In one such community in Tamil Nadu, India, the local mosque opened up to accommodate, shelter and serve the victims, who were primarily non-Muslims. 
Islam wants Muslims to have a humanity-orientation.It is very unfortunate that Muslims have made the use of the word "Ummah" exclusive for themselves. Thus, one observes Muslims regularly talking about or referring to the Ummah, meaning only the Muslims. However, the Qur'an also uses "ummah" for the humanity. "Mankind (an-Nas) was one single nation (ummah) ..." [2/al-Baqarah/213] Due to such exclusive use of the word, many Muslims don't seem to be in tune with the humanity. 

[IslamCity] The Model School, Islamic Style

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Saturday, Jun. 11, 2005The Model School, Islamic StyleAs they learn about the American Dream, these kids wonder if it's theirs to pursueBy MARGUERITE MICHAELS/BRIDGEVIEW
http://www.islamicity.com/m/news_frame.asp?Frame=1referenceID=21076

The boys, with some affection, call their school "the box." It is an acknowledgment that their modern, gray concrete building with 36 classrooms and a basketball court is both protection and containment. Outside the box, says senior Ali Fadhli, there are "problems." He means temptation ? and bigotry. The temptation is sex and the way the culture outside the box is saturated with it. "That's why Islam has repentance," he says with a laugh. The bigotry is from fellow American citizens who the students believe are watching them with suspicion. Since 9/11, "there's been extra pressure on them," says Hanan Abdallah, their assistant principal. "Anytime they're out, whatever they say counts 110%. They are young adults at an earlier age." 
The place that's preparing these young Americans for life in their own country, "from crayons to college," as its slogan promises, is the Universal School, an Islamic institution teaching 638 students in pre-K through 12th grades in Bridgeview, Ill. The suburb, 16 miles southwest of Chicago's downtown Loop, lies in the heart of one of the U.S.'s largest Arab communities, where an estimated 25,000 Islamic residents pursue an uneasy assimilation into secular, suburban life. The school's goal is to give its students such a solid grounding in their religion and education that they will be able to go forth and succeed in mainstream American life without compromising their values. "Proud to be Muslim, proud to be American," says Safaa Zarzour, vice chairman of the school's board and its former principal. 
Universal takes pride in the fact that it is a model Islamic school. "Being a Muslim is synonymous with excellence in every area," its parent-and-student handbook says. Day-to-day life as a model student, however, has been an "edgier" balancing act ever since 9/11, says Zarzour. "Our acceptance as Americans is on far shakier ground." Last year, after a student's picture appeared in a local newspaper as the winner of a regional spelling bee, the school received a series of bomb threats. Meanwhile, from inside the box looking out, fear and anger have grown among many students, teachers and parents as the Iraq war and the mistreatment of Muslim prisoners have provided further reminders of the conflict between cultures. "We never looked at it as Americans doing something to Muslims, but rather, how can Americans do something like that to anybody?" says Abdallah. While the moderate Islamic community's typical response is to take a low profile, the Universal School gave Time an unusual
 degree of access for a look inside a community searching for its identity. "We're telling our kids they're American," says Farhat Siddiqui, Universal's principal. "But the doors of opportunity have been shut since 9/11. What's the password to open them?" 
The roots of Universal School go back to the arrival of a wave of new Muslim residents in the southwest Chicago suburbs during the 1970s and '80s. Many were Palestinian immigrants who had fled the violence and lack of economic opportunity in their homeland. Busy pursuing the American Dream, they assumed Islam could be passed on to their children around the dinner table. What began to show up at mealtime instead was dyed-green hair and requests to start dating, like the other kids in the public schools. The Islamic students faced discrimination as well, to which they responded with a different but just as American idea: forming gangs. "Tap boys," they were called, which stood for Tall Arab Posses. "The parents realized their children were drifting from what was holy and valuable to them," says Zarzour. "They were getting involved with everything from drugs to Halloween." 
Organized by community leaders and built with donations from Muslims across the U.S. and a loan from the Islamic Development Bank, Universal opened its doors in 1990. Since then it has become a fully accredited institution, with 95% of its graduates going on to college. The growing sense of harmony was abruptly reversed on the morning of 9/11. After a frightened parent called the school, a classroom TV was wheeled into vice chairman Zarzour's office, where he watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center. "As soon as the terrorism speculation started," says Zarzour, "the parents came and took their kids home. The head of the FBI came out from Chicago. The mayor and police chief of Bridgeview stopped by. After all the kids had gone, I sent the staff home." 
Prompted by anti-Muslim demonstrators marching toward Bridgeview from a neighboring suburb, local police secured the area around the school and the mosque next door, manning the barricades for three days. "That day changed my life," says Zarzour, an immigrant from Syria. "Up until that time, 

[IslamCity] Mind-building: A neglected dimension of the Prophetic heritage

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Mind-building:A neglected dimension of the Prophetic heritage








Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq







Allahu Akbar, Allahhuu Akbar! ... Oh, the vibrating wake-up call to begin another day. It's somewhat different though, as in this age of modern technology and rapid change, this call is from a digital clock right by the bedside. It is not a substitute for the hearty adhan coming live from a minaret, but for a weak believer like me, I am so grateful to have this, instead of a regular alarm clock, in a small rural town in the USA.Offering the prayer, I head for the kitchen area. On the electric stove, an egg is being transformed into delicious omelet with the loving and mysterious touch of my beloved better half. (Somehow whenever I cook, even following her instructions, it doesn't taste so good!). In the microwave, a cup of water is brewing for tea - to be made the English way. Last night there was terrible headache, and some remnant was still there. My wife insists on checking if I have any temperature, and defying my
 "qawwamuna alan nisa" status, I listened to her. Alhamdulillah, the thermometer gave a favorable reading, but I reached out for some Tylenol.Expecting some guests this afternoon, I grabbed the convenient handle of vacuum cleaner. I already used the "miracle mop" last night before going to sleep. Hurriedly, I dressed up while I turned on the computer. Most annoyingly, yet helpfully, the computer reminds me that I have two bills to be paid and today is the scheduled date to be mailed out. Without being meticulous about my otherwise shapely handwriting, I write two checks, put it in an addressed envelope. Thanks God, I don't have to lick that rather awkward-tasting stamps, because I got those self-adhesive ones. Quickly, I check my email. My parents, halfway across the globe in Bangladesh, have written me an email that was sent just a few minutes ago. I remember twenty years ago when I came to this country, I had to endure weeks to receive a letter.No more time left. I
 hear a pleading reminder from downstairs, "Abbuji (daddy), it's time to go!" My two daughters are ready to go to school and I have to drop them off on my way to the university. There was no problem on the way. After two major car accidents last year, I have to be extra careful; of course, there is passionate and strict instruction from my beloved to drive most conservatively. In North America, this is generally not a big problem, as most drivers on the road are also obeying the basic traffic laws.After reaching office, I checked messages on my voice machine, prepared an exam on computer, quickly printed it out on a laser printer (sparing some time for me to work on this article), wrote a few things with a pen that did not spill any ink, and headed for my class room. The computer station in the classroom wasn't working properly, so I had to immediately call up the technical support and without any hassle or bribe, it was promptly taken care of.In the afternoon, there
 was a faculty meeting. I am one of the two international faculty here, and my participation at this meeting as a faculty is deeply appreciated, even though I had to publicly register my concerns about some of the recent steps taken by the administration.By now, I won't be surprised if the readers have become circumspect as to - in detailing all these routine things that are so common in most others' life as well - what do I really have in mind. Aha, the "mind"! This article is about "mind-building". As my life is not much different from most others', as my beloved's omelet is probably only as delicious as most others' (may be just a little better!), as my daily routines are also quite similarly to most others', I think it would be alright if I spare the readers from the rest of the detail. In subjecting the respected readers to be informed about my daily routines, I was merely trying to make a point. First, let us recount some of the modern gadgets that
 have become routines in most of our lives. Clock, stove, microwave, thermometer, pain reliever, computer, vacuum cleaner, miracle mop, car, laser printer, ball-point pen, bank checks, self-adhesive stamps - not a single of these gadgets or the underlying operating systems is a contribution by Muslims. Readers can take an account of their own lives and see if they can identify anything they currently use that has been discovered, invented, or even innovated by Muslims! One can also look at the organizational dimension of their lives and see whether in their society they allow people of international (particularly, of different religious) origin to be integrated as closely as we have been allowed to, or whether they can voice their concerns not merely to protest but for the sake of problem-solving, or whether they can drive with reasonable expectation that the fellow drivers on the road will obey the laws.Within the limited scope of this paper, I would like to draw attention
 to a few aspects related to an 

[IslamCity] The Concept of Religious Extremism

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam Alaikum,
Excerpts from Dr. Qaradawi’s book titled “Islamic Awakening: Between Rejection 
and
Extremism”. I may add certain comments to clear things up for the readers. I 
posted
2 parts earlier and then stopped for a while. I hope to be more regular this 
time
around.
Maqsud

http://www.islamicminds.tk/

http://www.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/iabrae/
The Concept of Religious Extremism
A correct expose and definition of-and an insight into-extremism is the first 
step
toward outlining the remedy. There is no value for any judgment or exposition 
not
based on genuine Islamic concepts and the Shari'ah, but on mere personal 
opinions of
individuals. The Qur'an says in this respect: If you differ on anything among
yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you do believe in Allah and 
the
Last Day. Throughout the history of the Ummah there has always been an ijma
Referring differences between Muslims to Allah (SWT) and to His Messenger means
referring them to His Book, the Qur'an, and to the Sunnah of the Prophet 
(SA'AS). 
It is reported that al Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al Shafi was accused of being a
rafidi (“Rejectionist”: A person who loves the Prophet (PBUH) and the household 
of
Ali ibn Abi Talib but does not accept the caliphate of Abu Bakr and Umar. An
extremist Shia position). Outraged by such a cheap accusation, he defiantly 
read a
verse of poetry which is paraphrased as follows: If love for all ahl al bayt' 
is
rejectionism, let the humans and the jinn bear witness that I am a 
rejectionist. 
In fact it is very important to define accurately such common terms as
reactionism:' rigidity 'extremism bigotry 'etc., so that they may not
constitute ambiguous concepts which can be hurled randomly by one group of 
people
against another, or be interpreted differently by various intellectual and 
social
forces whether on the extreme right or left. Failure to define and comprehend
religious extremism and to leave the issue to the whimsical desires of people 
will
lead to discord among Muslims. The Qur'an says: 
If the Truth had been in accord with their desires, truly the heavens and the 
earth
and all the beings therein would have been in confusion and corruption!
I would like at this point to draw attention to two important observations. 
First: The degree of a person's piety as well as that of the society in which he
lives affect his judgment of others as far as extremism, moderation, and laxity 
are
concerned. A religious society usually produces a person sensitively aversive 
to any
deviation or negligence, however slight it may be. Judging by the criteria of 
his
own practice and background, such a person would be surprised to find that 
there are
Muslims who do not offer 'ibadah during the night or practice siyam. This is
historically obvious. When examining the deeds and practices of people, the 
nearer
one gets to the time of the Prophet (.SA'AS), his companions and the Tabiun the 
less
worthy seem the deeds and practices of the pious among the later generations. 
The same attitude was expressed by Aishah (RA'A), who used to recite a line of 
verse
by Labid Ibn Rabiah, the well-known poet, which laments the disappearance of 
those
people who provided exemplary patterns of righteous living, thus leaving people 
to
the mercy of the stragglers, whose company is as contagious as a scabby animal.
Moreover, she always wondered how Labid would have felt had he lived to witness 
the
practices of a later generation. 'Aishah's nephew, 'Urwah ibn al Zubayr, also 
used
to recite the same line of verse and wonder how both Aishah and Labid would have
felt had they lived in his own age. 

On the other hand, a person whose knowledge of and commitment to Islam is 
little, or
who has been brought up in an environment which practices what Allah (SWT) has
forbidden and neglects Shariah, will certainly consider even minimal adherence 
to
Islam a kind of extremism. 
For such a person, a young Muslim with a beard or a young girl wearing hijab are
both extremists! 
Second: It is unfair to accuse a person of religious extremism simply because 
he
has adopted a hard-line juristic opinion of certain fuqaha.' If a person is
convinced that his opinion is right and that he is bound by it according to 
Shariah,
he is free to do so even if others think that the juristic evidence is weak. He 
is
only responsible for what he thinks and believes even if, in so doing, he
overburdens himself, especially since he is not content with only limiting 
himself
to the categorical obligations required of him but seeks Allah's pleasure 
through
supererogatory performances. 

People naturally differ on these matters. Some take things easy and facilitate
matters, others do not. This is also true of the Prophet's companions. Ibn 
'Abbas,
for instance, facilitated religious matters, while Ibn 'Umar was strict. In 
view of
all this, it would be enough for a Muslim to support his conviction with 
evidence
from one of the Islamic 

[IslamCity] Muslim women step into whole new aquatic world

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Muslim women step into whole new aquatic world 
04-10-05 22:54 JENNA JOHNSON Faces framed with light-colored scarves peer through the glass panes. The door is locked, as the YWCA is closed Sundays, but Zainab Al-Baaj comes running to pop it open for the women and young girls waiting outside. They giggle, saying hello to one another and switching between speaking Arabic and English as quickly as they walk through the lobby. The lobby is where this group of Muslim women, ranging from toddlers to age 60, transitions from the world outside the YWCA to the world offered to them on the second floor – at the swimming pool. In the lobby, long colored scarves, or hijab, are draped over their heads and their bodies are covered with loose, unfitted clothing. Their Islamic faith and culture instructs them to be modest in their dress, showing as little skin as possible when in public or in the presence of men. At the pool, away from windows, cameras and men,
 they can strip off their layers of clothing, put on colorful swimsuits and enjoy the warm pool water free of cost for two hours. They talk about their lives, families and the challenges they face everyday. “Once I enter the YWCA door, it’s my time,” said Al-Baaj, a native of Iraq. “It’s not my husband’s time or my children’s time. It’s my time. That’s why we can’t wait until it’s Sunday…we just can’t wait.” When Al-Baaj first organized swimming sessions last September with the assistance of the YWCA staff and the funding of a community endowment, she had never gone swimming before. Then, on her first Sunday, she was so excited to get into the water that she kicked off her shoes, rolled up her pants and ran into the pool, screaming with excitement. In those early weeks she was too scared to leave the security of the shallow end and the safety of holding the wall. But now, the young mother of three is able to take an elegant dive into the deep end and
 swim the length of the YWCA pool. “Those first few weeks, I was really afraid of the water,” she said. “But the instructor was right there beside me.” Now, eight months later, the program still is one of the only of its kind in the country, although Al-Baaj said she has talked with women in Tennessee and Michigan who are interested in starting up their own lessons. The scarcity of pools friendly to Muslim women is the main reason Ohood Hakim attends the swim sessions. Hakim, a nutrition and health sciences graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said she hadn’t been swimming since she moved from Saudi Arabia, where there are many private swim clubs, seven years ago. Since the UNL Campus Recreation Center doesn’t offer accommodations for Muslim women, Hakim said she has to search for places to exercise on her own. “We don’t really have a place that understands our religion and culture,” she said. Hakim works out at
 Curves, a female-only gym in Lincoln, and on Sundays between 1 and 3 p.m. she swims and does water aerobics with 40 to 60 other Muslim women at YWCA. In May, Hakim will be returning to Saudi Arabia with her husband of seven years and her two sons, as her education will be completed and her visa will be up. She will miss the swimming group, which helped her conquer her fear of water – common among Muslim women because of inexperience with swimming – and gave her a new sense of confidence. “I understand myself more,” she said. “I can do things I never thought I could learn to do.” Hakim said she would also miss the diverse group of women she met. Although the women all speak Arabic languages, the group is a hodgepodge of different cultures.Some wear swimsuits while others feel more comfortable in long shorts and a T-shirt. The women speak seven dialects of Arabic, and many don’t know English. Most attend worship services at one of Lincoln’s two
 mosques every Saturday, but don’t always agree on matters of faith. The women come from 12 different countries, including Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, Pakistan and Egypt, but their differences are never an issue while swimming. Even if they wouldn’t normally talk to a person outside of the YWCA, they form a bond while swimming that usually only cousins share, Al-Baaj said. “We’re all the same here,” she said. “When we come here, we are all friends.” Breanna Storbeck, a swim instructor and a UNL sophomore pre-dental major, said she has slowly built up a level of trust with these women, forming more friendships each Sunday. “The looks on their faces … they are just so happy,” Storbeck said. But the world created on the second floor of the YWCA every Sunday could be coming to an end. The Community Health Endowment will discontinue its funding of the swim program on May 30 so it can assist an organization that didn’t receive funding
 last year, Al-Baaj said. Since 90 percent of women in the group are low-income, Al-Baaj said, they can’t afford to keep the program going by themselves and are calling on the Lincoln community to help them raise $10,000 by 

[IslamCity] Muslim women step into whole new aquatic world

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Muslim women step into whole new aquatic world
04-10-05 22:54 JENNA JOHNSON Faces framed with light-colored scarves peer through the glass panes. The door is locked, as the YWCA is closed Sundays, but Zainab Al-Baaj comes running to pop it open for the women and young girls waiting outside. They giggle, saying hello to one another and switching between speaking Arabic and English as quickly as they walk through the lobby. The lobby is where this group of Muslim women, ranging from toddlers to age 60, transitions from the world outside the YWCA to the world offered to them on the second floor – at the swimming pool. In the lobby, long colored scarves, or hijab, are draped over their heads and their bodies are covered with loose, unfitted clothing. Their Islamic faith and culture instructs them to be modest in their dress, showing as little skin as possible when in public or in the presence of men. At the pool, away from windows, cameras and men,
 they can strip off their layers of clothing, put on colorful swimsuits and enjoy the warm pool water free of cost for two hours. They talk about their lives, families and the challenges they face everyday. “Once I enter the YWCA door, it’s my time,” said Al-Baaj, a native of Iraq. “It’s not my husband’s time or my children’s time. It’s my time. That’s why we can’t wait until it’s Sunday…we just can’t wait.” When Al-Baaj first organized swimming sessions last September with the assistance of the YWCA staff and the funding of a community endowment, she had never gone swimming before. Then, on her first Sunday, she was so excited to get into the water that she kicked off her shoes, rolled up her pants and ran into the pool, screaming with excitement. In those early weeks she was too scared to leave the security of the shallow end and the safety of holding the wall. But now, the young mother of three is able to take an elegant dive into the deep end and
 swim the length of the YWCA pool. “Those first few weeks, I was really afraid of the water,” she said. “But the instructor was right there beside me.” Now, eight months later, the program still is one of the only of its kind in the country, although Al-Baaj said she has talked with women in Tennessee and Michigan who are interested in starting up their own lessons. The scarcity of pools friendly to Muslim women is the main reason Ohood Hakim attends the swim sessions. Hakim, a nutrition and health sciences graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said she hadn’t been swimming since she moved from Saudi Arabia, where there are many private swim clubs, seven years ago. Since the UNL Campus Recreation Center doesn’t offer accommodations for Muslim women, Hakim said she has to search for places to exercise on her own. “We don’t really have a place that understands our religion and culture,” she said. Hakim works out at
 Curves, a female-only gym in Lincoln, and on Sundays between 1 and 3 p.m. she swims and does water aerobics with 40 to 60 other Muslim women at YWCA. In May, Hakim will be returning to Saudi Arabia with her husband of seven years and her two sons, as her education will be completed and her visa will be up. She will miss the swimming group, which helped her conquer her fear of water – common among Muslim women because of inexperience with swimming – and gave her a new sense of confidence. “I understand myself more,” she said. “I can do things I never thought I could learn to do.” Hakim said she would also miss the diverse group of women she met. Although the women all speak Arabic languages, the group is a hodgepodge of different cultures.Some wear swimsuits while others feel more comfortable in long shorts and a T-shirt. The women speak seven dialects of Arabic, and many don’t know English. Most attend worship services at one of Lincoln’s two
 mosques every Saturday, but don’t always agree on matters of faith. The women come from 12 different countries, including Morocco, Jordan, Palestine, Pakistan and Egypt, but their differences are never an issue while swimming. Even if they wouldn’t normally talk to a person outside of the YWCA, they form a bond while swimming that usually only cousins share, Al-Baaj said. “We’re all the same here,” she said. “When we come here, we are all friends.” Breanna Storbeck, a swim instructor and a UNL sophomore pre-dental major, said she has slowly built up a level of trust with these women, forming more friendships each Sunday. “The looks on their faces … they are just so happy,” Storbeck said. But the world created on the second floor of the YWCA every Sunday could be coming to an end. The Community Health Endowment will discontinue its funding of the swim program on May 30 so it can assist an organization that didn’t receive funding
 last year, Al-Baaj said. Since 90 percent of women in the group are low-income, Al-Baaj said, they can’t afford to keep the program going by themselves and are calling on the Lincoln community to help them raise $10,000 by 

[IslamCity] Tariq Ramadan's call for Moratorium on corporal punishment stoning and the death penalty

[Maqsud Sobhani]

salam alaikum,

This is a timely and bold call by Tariq Ramadan to have the discussion on 
Corporal
punishment, stoning and death penalty in the Islamic world. Various websites,
including islamicity.com, islamonline and Tariq ramadan's own site has a lot of
discussion going on in this topic. 

Maqsud

An International call for Moratorium on corporal punishment, stoning and the 
death
penalty in the Islamic World

Wednesday 30th March 2005, by Tariq Ramadan
http://www.islamicity.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=341PN=1TPN=1
 
Muslim majority societies and Muslims around the world are constantly confronted
with the fundamental question of how to implement the penalties prescribed in 
the
Islamic penal code. 

Evoking the notion of shari'a, or more precisely hudud[1], the terms of the 
debate
are defined by central questions emerging from thought provoking discussions 
taking
place between ulama' (scholars) and/or Muslim masses: How to be faithful to the
message of Islam in the contemporary era? How can a society truly define itself 
as
Islamic beyond what is required in the daily practices of individual private 
life?
But a critical and fruitful debate has not yet materialized. 

Several currents of thought exist in the Islamic world today and disagreements 
are
numerous, deep and recurring. Among these, a small minority demands the 
immediate
and strict application of hudud, assessing this as an essential prerequisite to
truly defining a Muslim majority society as Islamic. Others, while 
accepting the
fact that the hudud are indeed found in the textual references (the Qur'an and 
the
Sunna[2]), consider the application of hudud to be conditional upon the state 
of the
society which must be just and, for some, has to be ideal before these 
injunctions
could be applied. Thus, the priority is the promotion of social justice, 
fighting
against poverty and illiteracy etc. Finally, there are others, also a minority, 
who
consider the texts relating to hudud as obsolete and argue that these references
have no place in contemporary Muslim societies. 

One can see the opinions on this subject are so divergent and entrenched that it
becomes difficult to discern what the respective arguments are. At the very 
moment
we are writing these lines- while serious debate is virtually non-existent, 
while
positions remain vague and even nebulous, and consensus among Muslims is 
lacking-
women and men are being subjected to the application of these penalties. 

For Muslims, Islam is a message of equality and justice. It is our faithfulness 
to
the message of Islam that leads us to recognize that it impossible to remain 
silent
in the face of unjust applications of our religious references. The debate must
liberate itself and refuse to be satisfied by general, timid and convoluted
responses. These silences and intellectual contortions are unworthy of the 
clarity
and just message of Islam. 

In the name of the scriptural sources, the Islamic teachings, and the 
contemporary
Muslim conscience, statements must be made and decisions need to be taken.

What does the majority of the ulama' say?

All the ulama' (scholars) of the Muslim world, of yesterday and of today and in 
all
the currents of thought, recognize the existence of scriptural sources that 
refer to
corporal punishment (Qur'an and Sunna), stoning of adulterous men and women 
(Sunna)
and the penal code (Qur'an and Sunna). The divergences between the ulama' and 
the
various trends of thought (literalist, reformist, rationalist, etc.) are 
primarily
rooted in the interpretation of a certain number of these texts, the conditions 
of
application of the Islamic penal code, as well as its degree of relevance to the
contemporary era (nature of the committed infractions, testimonials, social and
political contexts, etc.). 
The majority of the ulama', historically and today, are of the opinion that 
these
penalties are on the whole Islamic but that the conditions under which they 
should
be implemented are nearly impossible to reestablish. These penalties, 
therefore, are
almost never applicable. The hudud would, therefore, serve as a deterrent, 
the
objective of which would be to stir the conscience of the believer to the 
gravity of
an action warranting such a punishment.

Anyone who reads the books of the ulama', listens to their lectures and sermons,
travels inside the Islamic world or interacts with the Muslim communities of the
West will inevitably and invariably hear the following pronouncement from 
religious
authorities: almost never applicable. Such pronouncements give the majority of
ulama and Muslim masses a way out of dealing with the fundamental issues and
questions without risking appearing to be have betrayed the Islamic scriptural
sources. The alternative posture is to avoid the issue of hudud altogether 
and/or to
remain silent. 

What is happening on the ground? 

One would have hoped that this pronouncement, almost never, would be 
understood as
a assurance 

[IslamCity] Defects of Religious Extremism

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam Alaikum,
Excerpts from Dr. Qaradawi’s book titled “Islamic Awakening: Between Rejection and Extremism”. 
I may add certain comments to clear things up for the readers. 
Maqsud

http://www.islamicminds.tk/
http://www.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/iabrae/
Defects of Religious Extremism
All these warnings against extremism and excessiveness are necessary because of the serious defects inherent in such tendencies. 
The first defect is that excessiveness is too disagreeable for ordinary human nature to endure or tolerate. Even if a few human beings could put up with excessiveness for a short time, the majority would not be able to do so. Allah's legislation addresses the whole of humanity, not a special group who may have a unique capacity for endurance. This is why the Prophet (SA'AS) was once angry with his eminent companion Mu'adh, because the latter led the people one day in salah and so prolonged it that one of the people went to the Prophet and complained. The Prophet (SA'AS) said to Mu'adh: "O Mu'adh! Are you putting the people on trial?" and repeated it thrice. 
On another occasion he addressed an imam with unusual anger: "Some of you make people dislike good deeds [salah]. So whoever among you leads people in salah should keep it short, short because amongst them are the weak, the old, and the one who has business to attend to. Furthermore, when the Prophet (SA'AS) sent Mu'adh and Abu Musa to the Yemen, he gave them the following advice: "Facilitate [matters to people] and do not make [things] difficult. Give good tidings and do not put off [people]. Obey one another and do not differ [amongst yourselves]. Umar ibn al Khattab (RA'A) also emphasized this by saying: "Do not make Allah hateful to His servants by leading people in salah and so prolonging it that they come to hate what they are doing."
The second defect is that excessiveness is short-lived. Since man's capacity for endurance and perseverance is naturally limited, and since man can easily become bored, he can not endure any excessive practice for long. Even if he puts up with it for a while he will soon be overcome by fatigue, physically and spiritually, and will eventually give up even the little he can naturally do, or he may even take a different course altogether substituting excessiveness with complete negligence and laxity. 
So is the Prophet's guidance embodied in another hadith: "Do those deeds, which you can endure, as Allah will not get tired [of giving rewards] till you get bored and tired [of performing good deeds]...and the most beloved deed to Allah is the one which is done regularly even if it were little." 
Said Ibn 'Abbas: "A female attendant of the Prophet (SA'AS) used to do siyam during the day and spend the whole night in iqamah. The Prophet (SA'AS) was informed of this, and he said, 'In every deed [or action] there is a peak of activity followed by lassitude. He who in his lassitude follows my Sunnah is on the right path, but he who in his lassitude follows another [guidance] has [erred and] gone astray. 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar said: "The Messenger of Allah was told of men who were exhausted by 'ibadah. He said, 'This is the maximum of Islam and peak of its activity. Each maximum has a peak of activity, and each peak of activity is followed by lassitude...he whose lassitude is in tune with the Book [the Qur'an] and Sunnah is on the right path, but he whose lassitude is for disobedience will perish." 
How superb is the Prophet's advice to all Muslims not to overburden themselves in 'ibadah and to be moderate so that they may not be overcome by fatigue and finally fail to continue. He said: "Religion is very easy, and whoever overburdens himself will not be able to continue in that way. Be right [without excessiveness or negligence], near [perfection], and have good tidings [in being rewarded for your deeds]. 
The third defect is that excessive practice jeopardizes other rights and obligations. A sage once said in this respect: "Every extravagance is somehow bound to be associated with a lost right." When the Prophet (SA'AS) knew that 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar was so absorbed in 'ibadah that he even neglected his duty toward his wife, he said to him: "O 'Abd Allah! Have I not been correctly informed that you do siyam daily and offer 'ibadah throughout the night?" 'Abd Allah replied, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah!" The Prophet (SA'AS) then said: "Don't do that, but do siyam and then break your siyam, offer 'ibadah during the night but also sleep. Your body has a right on you, your wife has a right on you, and your guest has a right on you..." 
The incident between Salman al Farisi (RA'A), the eminent companion, and his devout friend Abu al Darda' (RA'A) is another case in point. The Prophet (SA'AS) made a bond of brotherhood between Salman and Abu al Darda'. Once Salman paid a visit to Abu al Darda' and found Umm al Darda' (his wife) dressed in shabby clothes. He asked her why she was in that state, and she replied, 

[IslamCity] Extremism

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Salam Alaikum,

I will start posting excerpts from Dr. Qaradawi’s book titled “Islamic Awakening: Between Rejection and Extremism”. I suggest everyone to read this book in its entirety. The book though written over 22 years ago, yet it seems it is more appropriate for today than it was for yesterday. The book clearly displays the great foresight and vision Dr. Qaradawi has. His comments regarding extremism clearly hold more truth today than when it was written. To make the reading more interesting, I am only going to post excerpts from various chapters. I may add certain comments to clear things up for the readers. 
Maqsud
http://www.islamicminds.tk/

http://www.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/iabrae/

Extremism: The Accusation and the Truth (Chapter one)

Logicians argue that one cannot pass a judgment on something unless one has a clear conception of it, because the unknown and the undefined cannot be judged. Therefore, we first have to determine what "religious, extremism" means before we can condemn or applaud it. We can do so by considering its reality and its most distinguishing characteristics. Literally, extremism means being situated at the farthest possible point from the center. Figuratively, it indicates a similar remoteness in religion and thought, as well as behavior. One of the main consequences of extremism is exposure to danger and insecurity.! Islam, therefore, recommends moderation and balance in everything: in belief, ibadah, conduct, and legislation. This is the straightforward path that Allah (SWT) calls al Sirat. al mustaqim, one distinct from all the others which are followed by
 those who earn Allah's anger and those who go astray. Moderation, or balance, is not only a general characteristic of Islam, it is a fundamental landmark. 

The Qur'an says:Thus have we made of you an Ummah justly balanced, that you might be witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves.
As such, the Muslim Ummah is a nation of justice and moderation; it witnesses every deviation from the 'straightforward path' in this life and in the hereafter.

Islamic texts call upon Muslims to exercise moderation and to reject and oppose all kinds of extremism: ghuluw (excessiveness), tanattu' (transgressing; meticulous religiosity) and tashdid (strictness; austerity). A close examination of such texts shows that Islam emphatically warns against, and discourages, ghuluw. Let us consider the following ahadith: 
Beware of excessiveness in religion. [People] before you have perished as a result of [such] excessiveness. " The people referred to above are the people of other religions, especially Ahl al Kitab [the People of the Book]; Jews and Christians and mainly the Christians. 

The Qur'an addresses these people:Say: O People of the Book! Exceed not in your religion the bounds [of what is proper], trespassing beyond the truth, nor follow the vain desires of people who went wrong in times gone by who misled many, and strayed [themselves] from the even Way".

After reaching Muzdalifah-during his last hajj-the Prophet (SA'AS) requested Ibn 'Abbas to gather some stones for him. Ibn 'Abbas selected small stones. Upon seeing the stones, the Prophet (SA'AS) approved of their size and said: "Yes, with such [stones do stone Satan]. Beware of excessiveness in religion". This clearly indicates that Muslims should not be so zealous as to believe that using larger stones is better, thus gradually allowing excessiveness to creep into their lives.

"Ruined were those who indulged in tanattu'" And he [the Prophet (SA'AS)] repeated this thrice. Imam al Nawawi said that the people referred to here, "those indulging in tanattu:" i.e., those who go beyond the limit in their utterance as well as in their action. Evidently the above two ahadith emphatically assert that the consequence of excessiveness and zealotry will be the complete loss of this life and of the hereafter.

The Prophet (SA'AS) used to say: "Do not overburden yourselves, lest you perish. People [before you] overburdened themselves and perished. Their remains are found in hermitages and monasteries. Indeed, Prophet Muhammad (SA'AS) always condemned any tendency toward religious excessiveness. He cautioned those of his companions who were excessive in ibadah, or who were too ascetic, especially when this went beyond the moderate Islamic position. Islam seeks to create a balance between the needs of the body and those of the soul, between the right of man to live life to its full, and the right of the Creator to be worshipped by man; which is also man's raison d'etre.

Islam has laid down certain forms of `ibadah to purify the human being both spiritually and materially, individually and collectively, thereby establishing a harmonious community in which feelings of brotherhood and solidarity rule, and without hindering man's duty to build culture and civilization. The obligatory duties such as salah, zakah,' siyam' and hajj are simultaneously 

[IslamCity] Why God Won't Go Away

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Why God Won't Go Away

There have been all sorts of claims about the disappearance of religion/God from the face of the earth, that 20th century will be the century of science and end of God. Friedrich Nietzsche made the rather infamous comment that God is dead, though it is out of context and he certainly didn’t mean literally. 
1887, in the second edition of The Gay Science, Nietzsche added Book Five to the original, which begins with Section 343 and the statement: "The greatest recent event—that God is dead, that the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable..." [1] 
He was rather criticizing the Christian concept of God and declared it dead, as it is probably the only understanding of God that he had. However, God is not dead, Nietzsche is! God is not going away anytime soon either. Regardless of our religious affiliation, God is the central most theme in all religions. One may not believe in organized religion yet strong believer in God. 
Why do we believe in God? What make us turn to God all of a sudden? Where does sudden realization in God comes from? What triggers it all? 

In Islam, there is a concept called Fitra, or a natural inclination toward God. It is something in born in all of us. It is what makes us turn toward God, believe in God, regardless of how we are raised. Some scientists now scientifically prove this concept of Fitra. By the way, they are not Muslims and they are not religiously biased either. 

There has been a rather profound scientific research done by some scientists that proves that our brain in genetically wired to believe in God! Below you will find a review of the book.

Maqsud Sobhani
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IslamicMinds/
--

http://www.bookbrowse.com/index.cfm?page=titletitleID=788

Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves? Why does consciousness inevitably involve us in a spiritual quest? Why, in short, won't God go away? Theologians, philosophers, and psychologists have debated this question through the ages, arriving at a range of contradictory and ultimately unprovable answers. But in this brilliant, groundbreaking new book, researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili offer an explanation that is at once profoundly simple and scientifically precise: the religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the brain.Newberg and d'Aquili base this revolutionary conclusion on a long-term investigation of brain function and behavior as well as studies they conducted using high-tech imaging techniques to examine the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. What they
 discovered was that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads us to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid and tangibly real. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call "oneness with the universe" and the Franciscans attribute to the palpable presence of God is not a delusion or a manifestation of wishful thinking but rather a chain of neurological events that can be objectively observed, recorded, and actually photographed.The inescapable conclusion is that God is hard-wired into the human brain.In Why God Won't Go Away, Newberg and d'Aquili document their pioneering explorations in the field of neurotheology, an emerging discipline dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain. Along the way, they delve into such essential questions as whether humans are biologically compelled to make myths; what is the evolutionary connection between
 religious ecstasy and sexual orgasm; what do Near Death Experiences reveal about the nature of spiritual phenomena; and how does ritual create its own neurological environment. As their journey unfolds, Newberg and d'Aquili realize that a single, overarching question lies at the heart of their pursuit: Is religion merely a product of biology or has the human brain been mysteriously endowed with the unique capacity to reach and know God?Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights into the nature of consciousness and spirituality, Why God Won't Go Away bridges faith and reason, mysticism and empirical data. The neurological basis of how the brain identifies the "real" is nothing short of miraculous. This fascinating, eye-opening book dares to explore both the miracle and the biology of our enduring relationship with God.




[1] http://atheism.about.com/library/weekly/aa042600a.htm please visit and join:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IslamicMinds/__Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com 


***
{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 

[IslamCity] Muslim marriage ceremony a meeting of minds, cultures

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Muslim marriage ceremony a meeting of minds, cultures   by Samara Kalk Derby Source: The Capital Times
At the end of the ceremony there was no kissing of the bride. Afterward, there was no cake, alcohol, music or dancing. 

Instead, the marriage of Ilham Sunhaji and Nik Jazland Nik Azmi, who are both from Malaysia, was an educational and culturally enriching experience for many of the couple's friends who come from outside of the Muslim faith.
"Where should we go? What should we do? Can I take pictures? Can I hug her?" asked the bride's friend, Marla Delgado, shortly after she arrived.
"I'm going to cry, you know that," Delgado said after she first caught sight of the petite Sunhaji, 23, draped in a delicate white dress and head scarf that she purchased in Malaysia.
About 75 friends, many of them UW-Madison students, attended the ceremony Thursday night at the Islamic Center of Madison, just north of Regent Street. Raad Saleh, an active member of the Islamic Center, said news media were invited to give the broader community some insight into Muslim and Malaysian customs. There are about 1,000 Muslim families in the Madison area, he added.Those familiar with Islam said it was unusual for a couple to marry without their extended families in attendance.
"Usually in Malaysia when you get married, there would be both families and it would be a huge wedding. But since they are at school here and far away, it's a small, very small wedding," said Ali Gardo, a friend of the couple and a UW senior majoring in math.
According to various accounts, Azmi asked Sunhaji to marry him shortly after they met in Madison more than three years ago, when Sunhaji was only a freshman. She replied by saying nothing.
"He was very redundant," said Sunhaji, who finally gave in after three years of friendship.
The couple traveled back to Malaysia so Sunhaji's parents could meet Azmi. Sunhaji said her father is extremely religious and strict and insisted they marry. "I waited until my Dad asked us to get married," she said.
They were supposed to get married last semester but Sunhaji, who majors in international studies and political science and works long hours as a leader in the Multicultural Student Coalition, was just too busy.
Azmi, who is 26, graduated from a Malaysian university in 2002 with a degree in quantity surveying, which he said is similar to civil engineering. He's been working part-time delivering the Wisconsin State Journal as he waits for Sunhaji to finish her studies.
Sunhaji graduates in May and said she'd like to move to Britain to pursue a master's degree in international law. Meanwhile, in a separate conversation, Azmi said he plans to go back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, and work in his father's architecture firm.
Wherever the newlyweds end up, they are planning another celebration in Malaysia in August. Azmi is from Kuala Lumpur and Sunhaji is from Selangor, about an hour away.
In the Islamic Center's main prayer room, the wedding guests sat on the floor - as did the bride and groom - during the ceremony, known as Akad al Nikah.
Saleh conducted the nuptials. He told the crowd that Islam requires a "meeting of the minds between the husband and wife."
Also, the husband must be financially viable, Saleh explained. No matter what type of inheritance the woman has or how wealthy she is, the wife is not obligated to bring anything into the household.
"It's the man's responsibility," he said.
During the ceremony the husband has to offer a substantial sum of money, something akin to a dowry. Paying for the wedding party is also the responsibility of the husband.
"Unfortunately in Islam the man pays and pays," Saleh said with a laugh.
Publicly, during the ceremony, the groom asks to marry the bride. She - or her advocate - can answer three ways: she can accept, she can stay silent which translates into an acceptance, or she can decline.
"If she chooses No. 3 we are in trouble," Saleh said to laughter from the guests.
Afterward, Malik Ismail, who acted as the bride's advocate, or witness, said he was glad the couple was able to marry in Madison.
"If they had gotten married in Malaysia there are a lot of cultural additions to the marriage," he said. "What we have experienced here is pure, plain, simple and straight-forward."Related links: www.madison.com/tct/home/photo/index.php?ntid=27268ntpid=0
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***
{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 

[IslamCity] Reflections on Black History Month

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Reflections on Black History Month
ByImam Zaid Shakir

Black History Month should be of interest to every Muslim -especially here in America. It is estimated that upwards to 20% of the Africans enslaved in the Americas were Muslim. [1] In some areas, such as the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia, and parts of Virginia, the percentages of Muslims in the slave population may have approached 40%. [2] The fact that the search of a random African American, Alex Haley, for his roots led him to a Muslim village in West Africa is indicative of the widespread Muslim presence among the enslaved population here in the Americas. At this critical time in the history of our country, it is important for Muslims, whose legitimate existence in this country is being challenged in some quarters, to connect to our American Muslim roots. 

As Muslims, our story in this country did not begin with the coming of Syrians, Lebanese, Albanians, or Yemenis at the turn of the 20th Century and later. It began with those courageous African Muslim slaves whose blood, sweat, and tears were instrumental in building this country. Their struggle is our struggle, and our struggle should be a continuation of theirs. In identifying with those African Muslims, we must not allow ourselves to forget that they were part of a greater community, a community which has evolved to almost fifty million African Americans. The struggle of that community, its pain, perseverance, triumphs, and defeats, cannot be separated from the struggle of its Muslim members. If we as Muslims are moved by the suffering of our coreligionists who were exposed to the dehumanizing cruelties of a vicious system, we should similarly be moved by the plight of their
 non-Muslim African brothers and sisters who suffered the same injustices. We must also be moved to work with unwavering conviction to address, within the parameters of our organizational missions, the vestiges of institutional racism which continue to disproportionately affect African Americans and other racial minorities in this country. One statistic alone should be sufficient to alert us to the presence of such racism - 50% of this nation's 2.3 million incarcerated individuals come from her 12% African American population. Similarly discouraging statistics are found in areas ranging from access to higher education, teen pregnancies, high school dropout rates, youth homicides, and many other "quality of death" indicators. African American Muslims have a particular responsibility in addressing such racism. In beginning to do so, we can take our lead from our formerly enslaved brothers. Despite their lack of freedom, many of them were never "owned." This fact is strikingly clear in
 their increasingly widespread biographies. Individuals such as Ayyub bin Sulayman (Job Ben Solomon), Ibrahim Abdul-Rahman, and Yarrow Mamout, to name a few, did not allow the ravages of chattel slavery to rob them of their dignity, honor, nor their human worth. 

As we endeavor to address the imperfections of society, in race relations and other areas, we must do so with dignity, honor, grace, and with free and open minds. Those of us who hail from the historically oppressed minority communities of this land, must resist the temptation to allow the triumvirate of rage, a sense of victimization, and vengeance to distort our ability to calmly assess and then pragmatically address the many issues confronting us. When such a distortion occurs, delusional thinking and irrational politics usually result. One of the greatest delusions challenging us lies in seeing our situation as paralleling that of our brothers and sisters in foreign lands governed by repressive, authoritarian regimes. By viewing our situation as parallel to theirs we are tempted to view the paradigm of resistance which governs their struggles as valid for our situation. Such an
 assessment is fallacious for a number of reasons. First of all, most of the significant "Third World" liberation struggles pitted oppressed majorities against oppressive minorities. In this country, the white majority, and significant segments of the nonwhite minorities, are not so severely affected by structural violence or institutional racism that they view violent, or even aggressive challenges to the status quo as legitimate forms of political _expression_. Secondly, alternative means of political _expression_, available in this country, are unavailable in most "third world" dictatorships or authoritarian oligarchies. Hence, the mechanisms whereby the Jews, by way of example, once a despised and demeaned minority in this country, were able to favorably situate themselves within the system, are not available in the previously referenced countries. Similarly, the progress achieved by African Americans in affirmative action, progress which has been steadily eroded, no doubt, could not
 have been hoped for by oppressed minorities in many other countries. 

Whether we view these realities as truly 

[IslamCity] Traumatised in a faraway land

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Traumatised in a faraway land
The tsunami disaster that struck Aceh on 26 December left Acehnese students at Al-Azhar as grief-stricken and property less as their compatriots back home, writes Gamal Nkrumah 



The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional economic grouping of 10 Southeast Asian countries, bore the brunt of the cataclysm that devastated Indian Ocean rim countries last month. In Cairo, Acehnese students at Al-Azhar frantically tried to communicate with their families back in the Indonesian province of Aceh much of which was ravaged by the tumultuous waters. The low-lying coastal areas, in particular and even the capital Banda Aceh, now lay waste.
Said Mubarak, 25, lost all his family except for a brother who was not in Aceh when disaster struck. "I trust in God. My faith is my consolation," Mubarak said. "We are all going to die some day," he added. 
There are some 300 Acehnese students in Cairo, mostly studying at Al-Azhar University, and nearly all have lost at least one member of their family or a friend. Some 60 Acehnese students at Al-Azhar have lost close
 family members in the wake of the tsunamis. All, however, have been affected one way or another by the cataclysm. About 24 Acehnese students at Al-Azhar have lost their entire families in the cataclysm. 
Fear has hung as one terrifyingly big question mark over the fate of the families and friends of these students in the wake of the dreadful cataclysm. They have been left utterly bereft of anything save their faith. 
Aceh, in the far northwestern corner of Indonesia perched like a tropical paradise of the northern tip of the country's largest island Sumatra, was the land where Islam was first introduced to Indonesia. The Acehnese, to this day, are among the most devout of Muslims in Indonesia -- itself the world's most populous Muslim nation.
The white-and-red Indonesian flag that flew half mast above the Indonesian Embassy in Garden City, Cairo, was no longer flapping when mourners gathered in the embassy grounds throughout the first week of January. The pitiful sight of the distraught Acehnese students who assembled at the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo was heart wrenching. Others had come to pay their condolences to the Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt Bachtiar Ali who lost
 15 family members in the tsunami catastrophe. 
The ruinous earthquake and the gigantic tidal sea surges, or tsunami, triggered chaos and mayhem and left in its wake a trail of death, disease and destruction. Indonesia was the hardest-hit country, and the Indonesian province of Aceh the worse-affected area in the far- flung country. 
Coastal livelihood in Aceh was devastated inflicting a terrible social and psychological burden on the affected communities. And, the tsunamis that caused such a loss of life and destruction in the Indian Ocean rim countries had a wide range of political ripple effects. 
However, most of the students in Egypt are very reluctant to be drawn into discussions about politics in Aceh. They would not elaborate on the political aftershocks of the tsunami. No student interviewed by Al- Ahram Weekly ventured to talk about GAM, the common acronym for the Free Aceh Movement, the separatist armed opposition group that seeks independence from Indonesia. Aceh province
 has been closed to outsiders for more than two years. Tensions were running high in the war-torn province long before disaster struck. 
In an unprecedented development, the Indonesian authorities and GAM have tacitly connived to assist the work of the international emergency relief agencies. Both the Indonesian government and GAM have refrained from taking advantage of the chaotic situation in Aceh or of making political capital out of the cataclysm. 
As far as the Acehnese students in Egypt are concerned, the safety and well-being of their families and friends back home take precedence over political questions. 
Pronounced the world's worst natural catastrophe, the tsunamis that hit Aceh had an especially disastrous impact on the economy of the war-torn Indonesian province. Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, the two largest cities of Aceh lay in ruins. The infrastructure of the province was badly damaged. Even though Aceh is one of the main oil-producing parts of Indonesia, it has traditionally been economically sidelined and its people complain about the chronic underdevelopment of their province. Today, they are among the worst- affected victims of the tsunamis in southeast Asia.
So far both the Indonesian government and GAM have held the peace in Aceh. It remains to be seen if the current hiatus caused by the tsunamis will set the tone for their wider relationship. The Acehnese students in Egypt, most of whom are acutely aware that they are the leaders of the future, declined to comment on the political future of Aceh.
Moftaheddin Abdul-Wahid, who lost his wife and daughter in the cataclysm, hurriedly completed his papers and flew home to Aceh to mourn his dead 

[IslamCity] Short History of Hajj

[Maqsud Sobhani]

Short History of Hajj 
http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IC0301-18341/19/2004 - Religious - Article Ref: IC0301-1834Number of comments: 42 By: Invitation to IslamIslamiCity* - 







Hajj literally means 'to set out for a place'. Islamically however it refers to the annual pilgrimage that Muslims make to Makkah with the intention of performing certain religious rites in accordance with the method prescribed by the Prophet Muhammad .
Hajj and its rites were first ordained by Allah in the time of the Prophet lbrahim [Abraham] and he was the one who was entrusted by Allah to build the Kaba - the House of Allah - along with his son Ismail [Ishmael] at Makkah. Allah described the Kaba and its building as follows:

"And remember when We showed Ibrahim the site of the [Sacred] House [saying]: Associate not anything [in worship with Me and purify My House for those who circumambulate it [i.e. perform tawaaf] and those who stand up for prayer and those who bow down and make prostration [in prayer etc.]."[Surah Al-Hajj 22:26]
After building the Kaba, Prophet Ibrahim would come to Makkah to perform Hajj every year, and after his death, this practice was continued by his son. However, gradually with the passage of time, both the form and the goal of the Hajj rites were changed. As idolatry spread throughout Arabia, the Kaba lost its purity and idols were placed inside it. Its walls became covered with poems and paintings, including one of Jesus and his mother Maryam and eventually over 360 idols came to be placed around the Kaba.
During the Hajj period itself, the atmosphere around the sacred precincts of the Kaba was like a circus. Men and women would go round the Kaba naked, arguing that they should present themselves before Allah in the same condition they were born. Their prayer became devoid of all sincere remembrance of Allah and was instead reduced to a series of hand clapping, whistling and the blowing of horns. Even the talbiah [1] was distorted by them with the following additions: 'No one is Your partner except one who is permitted by you. You are his Master and the Master of what he possesses'.
Sacrifices were also made in the name of God. However, the blood of the sacrificed animals was poured onto the walls of the Kaba and the flesh was hung from pillars around the Kaba, in the belief that Allah demanded the flesh and blood of these animals.
Singing, drinking, adultery and other acts of immorality was rife amongst the pilgrims and the poetry competitions, which were held, were a major part of the whole Hajj event. In these competitions, poets would praise the bravery and splendor of their own tribesmen and tell exaggerated tales of the cowardice and miserliness of other tribes. Competitions in generosity were also staged where the chief of each tribe would set up huge cauldrons and feed the pilgrims, only so that they could become well-known for their extreme generosity.
Thus the people had totally abandoned the teachings of their forefather and leader Prophet Ibrahim. The House that he had made pure for the worship of Allah alone, had been totally desecrated by the pagans and the rites which he had established were completely distorted by them. This sad state of affairs continued for nearly two and a half thousand years. But then after this long period, the time came for the supplication of Prophet Ibrahim to be answered:

"Our Lord! Send amongst them a Messenger of their own, who shall recite unto them your aayaat (verses) and instruct them in the book and the Wisdom and sanctify them. Verily you are the 'Azeezul-Hakeem [the All-Mighty, the All-Wise]."[Surah Al-Baqarah 2:129]






Sure enough, a man by the name of Muhammad ibn 'Abdullaah  was born in the very city that Prophet Ibrahim had made this supplication centuries earlier. For twenty-three years, Prophet Muhammad  spread the message of Tawheed [true monotheism] - the same message that Prophet Ibrahim and all the other Prophets came with - and established the law of Allah upon the land. He expended every effort into making the word of Allah supreme and his victory over falsehood culminated in the smashing of the idols inside the Kaba which once again became the universal center for the worshippers of the one True God.
Not only did the Prophet rid the Kaba of all its impurities, but he also reinstated all the rites of Hajj which were established by Allah's Permission, in the time of Prophet Ibrahim. Specific injunctions in the Quran were revealed in order to eliminate all the false rites which had become rampant in the pre-Islamic period. All indecent and shameful acts were strictly banned in Allah's statement:

"There is to be no lewdness nor wrangles during Hajj."[Surah al-Baqarah 2:197]
Competitions among poets in the exaltations of their forefathers and their tribesmen's achievements were all stopped. Instead, Allah told them:

"And when you have completed your rites [of Hajj] then remember Allah as you remember your 

[IslamCity] Call a Family Meeting about Christmas

[maqsud sobhani]

Call a Family Meeting about Christmas
By Sound Vision Staff Writer
With the ubiquitous decorations, Santa Claus
beckoning, and classmates anxiously awaiting their
presents, your kids are probably wondering once again:
what's the big deal about Christmas?
Some of them may have just accustomed themselves to
the yearly celebration. Younger kids may be feeling
curious, jealous even, of all of the excitement
surrounding the event. 
This is why it's critical to share the Islamic
perspective on Christmas with your kids. Even if they
know what it's about, they may feel left out,
pressured, or even confused about it and where they
stand as Muslims. Here are some ways to bring it up
with them.
1.  Call a family meeting
While you can talk about the issue individually, the
benefit of getting everyone together is that they can
find out how different age groups are handling it.
Dealing with Christmas in the office is different from
facing it in high school or elementary school. 
2.  Start with the recitation of the Quran

Begin with a recitation of Surah Al Fatiha, the first
chapter of the Quran. Follow it up with a recitation
of Surah al-Ikhlas, the 112th chapter of the Quran.
Make sure the translations of both are read out loud.
You can have each recitation done by a different
family member.
3.  Get to know the territory
Have everyone share what kids at school, coworkers at
the office, or the neighbors have been saying about
Christmas. Whether it's plans to go to church for
Mass, visiting relatives, or getting lots of gifts
under the Christmas tree, get as much information as
possible so that each point can be addressed. 
4.  Discuss Muslim and Christian beliefs
about Jesus, peace be upon him.
Knowing these similarities and differences will teach
them to respect beliefs different from their own.
Ignorance only fuels misunderstanding. It will be good
for parents to read our article about similarities and
differences in the Christian and Islamic belief in
Jesus, peace be upon him.
5.  Explain the need for multicultural
understanding
The USA is a rich mosaic of colors, cultures and
backgrounds. There are more than 80 million people of
color in America.  There are followers of Native
American faiths, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and
Sikhs who live in the US and practice their faith,
while the majority of people here are born into the
Christian faith. Each religious group has its
celebrations and festivals. Just as Christians have
their Christmas, for instance, Muslims have their
Eids. It's important for Muslims to know about
Christmas, just as we expect people of other faiths to
know about Eid. 
6.  Stress the importance of respect for
other faiths in Islam
Share how Islam has taught us to respect others'
beliefs and faith traditions, emphasizing that
disagreement must never amount to disrespect. Use
examples from the life of Prophet Muhammed, peace and
blessings be upon him, to show how he gave the utmost
respect to other religious groups by allowing them to
pray in his own mosque and by instituting the freedom
of religion and self-governence in the constitution of
Madinah. 
7.  Emphasize the respect for Jesus and
all Prophets in Islam
Explain how every Prophet in Islam is treated with
dignity and respect. One example is how we say 'peace
be upon him' after each of their names. Another is how
they are highly praised by God in the Quran. Jesus,
peace be upon him, is important because belief in him
can serve as a bridge between Muslims and Christians.
8.   Talk about gifts and decorations
You can't talk about Christmas without discussing
these two elements of the celebration. Don't be
surprised if your kids share feelings of longing for
presents and pretty decorations.  Ask them what would
make Eid, their holiday, special for them. Gifts? A
trip? This should lead to a lively discussion and
great ideas that you can implement next Eid Insha
Allah (God willing). 
9.  Respecting others does not mean
compromising your faith
Islam is a unique faith which asks Muslims to believe
in all the Prophets, recognize all the Scriptures
given to them, respect all other faiths, and not force
our faith on anyone else. But at the same time the
Prophet Muhammed himself, Allah's peace and blessings
be upon him, asked us to be firm about our faith and
its practices. Respect for other beliefs never means
compromising our faith. God given freedom to practice
our religion is also embodied in the constitution of
the United States which allows freedom of religion to
all citizens. It is in recognition of this freedom and
the celebration of diversity in the US that the post
office issued the Eid Mubarak stamp as it did for
other celebrations. 
10.   Make the meeting interactive
Family meetings should not be just lectures by an
adult. Although the topics for this meeting are all
serious, you can turn them into interactive sessions

[IslamCity] Maqsud, the Rat, and Fajr Prayer too: Realities of living in Bangladesh

[maqsud sobhani]

Maqsud, the Rat, and Fajr prayer too: Realities of
living in Bangladesh 
By: Maqsud Sobhani 
In Dhaka, Bangladesh, my parents have a 4 stories
flat/apartment. Each floor is independent. One of my
uncles has been renting the 3rd and 4th floor; the
first floor rented to some people who I have not met.
The 2nd floor, which was the primary residence of my
parents, was never rented out and kept as it was while
they were there.  
Many years ago, the house had only one floor and then
we started adding to the 2nd floor, one room at a
time. This is or was very common back then, because
all transactions were in cash and there were hardly
any kind of loans available. So, people would save
some money and add to their house. Since my parents
were from the middle class, building the house was a
tall task. When I am talking about “class”, I am of
course speaking economically and not some kind of
Hindu religious sectarian class. Although, looking at
the Bangladeshi society, I am not sure which one is
worse!  
When we made that addition to the 2nd floor, my
brother and I moved in there. Eventually we started
adding to the 3rd floor as well, and my brother and I
moved in there. My parents moved in to the 2nd  floor
and so on and I won’t get into the difficult
mathematical permutations and combinations of how the
rest of the house was built and rented out. I would
need a math degree for that!   5 years ago, when I
came to visit the last time, I was promoted to the
newly added portion of the 4th floor, or was it a
demotion?  
This time around, I am staying at the 2nd floor, all
by myself! I am sleeping in the very bedroom that my
parents lived for a long time and the feeling is very
odd. I guess in many ways, I am stepping into the
shoes of my father, whether I am ready for it or not.
Also, it is most unusual for anyone to live by
themselves, even though it is only a temporary
situation. Dhaka is the most densely populated city in
the whole world, so crowed that sometimes people are
seen giving each other piggy backs! Ok, that piggy
back part I just made up, it is still the most densely
populated city in the whole universe. Unless of course
you can prove that there are other cities somewhere in
this universe that are more densely populated than
Dhaka. 
Although I am living on the 2nd floor, but I am
invading the 3rd floor (where my uncle/aunt/cousins
lives) every time I am hungry for food, a cup of tea,
or is it because of the fear of that giant Rat! Yes, I
was less than truthful when I said I am living all by
myself on the 2nd floor. I have a house mate. One
giant Rat! While living in USA, we occasionally
encountered a small mouse that is hardly threatening.
But this one is big, fearless and might even be
vindictive since we set up a trap. 
So far it ate cake, cookie and cheese from the not so
effective mouse trap and gave me a run around the
living room. No, it was the rat that was chasing me!
This rat has great likings for the cottons that are
inside the cushions that decorate our living room.
Each morning I will wake up to discover cottons laying
everywhere. Very soon, not much of the cushions will
be left. 
I suspected something was wrong when I woke up in the
morning after my first night in Dhaka. I thought I
heard some noise. Since Dhaka is also known for very
brave thieves, I wasn’t sure what to make of that.
Since I also consider myself brave, though others may
have different opinion about me, I decided to
investigate the matter myself. I noticed the plastic
container that had cookies on the floor and only 2 of
the cookies left. Last time I checked before going to
bed, it had a bunch more. Then all of a sudden I
noticed the fast approaching rat! I did my best to get
out of its way, it probably was trying its best to get
out of my way too. The rat at made its way through
another door, the section of the apartment that is
somewhat unused and locked.  
After breathing a sigh of relief, I noticed that there
is still plenty of time for the Fajr prayer. I said,
Alhamdulillah! Thanks for the rat, I am awake to pray
Fajr in time. May be the rat came to eat some
delicious cookies, or may be it came to give me a wake
up call. While I was sleeping like a baby, the rat was
probably saying, “you idiot, not only am I eating your
cookies, you are missing on your prayer as well!”
While I am guilty of missing many of my morning prayer
and I know that I will probably miss many more in
future as well, but this day thanks to a cookie
stealing (or robbing?) rat, I was up for Fajr.  
Bangladesh has one of the largest Muslim populations
in the world, the capital known as the city of Masjids
with Masjids at every corner; you can hear Adhan from
five or more Masjids at the same time; no one minds if
you are wearing a Hijab or even a Niqab, or whether
you have a beard or wear any traditional outfit and so
on.  
On the other side of spectrum, you have Bangladesh,
ranked as THE most corrupt country in the world, for
the fourth straight year