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Rabi' al-Awwal 24,1435/January 26, 2014
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The tragedy of Bangladesh uncovered by opposition leader Khalida Zia. Please scroll down.
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An American Muslimah has been given 10 years in prison for threatening the life of a Swedish artist who painted the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, as an animal. She has already spent 4 years in prison before the 10 year verdict. We urge the government to let her go. There are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world and punishing someone who felt like them is a major foreign policy blunder. She did not hurt anyone. It was just a lot of angry expression. Even the artist was shocked at the ten year sentence.
For a detailed Reuters report, please scroll to the end. Please remember that the writing is hostile to Islam but we kept it as is.
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Breaking News: Egypt
On January 24, there were 4 mujahideen bomb attacks in Cairo on police forces. A martyrdom operator blew up the front of the Police headquarters in central Cairo causing heavy casualties.
On January 25, the anniversary of the "revolution," General Sisi packed Tahrir Square with his supporters. These were: 1. Supporters of Hosni Mubarak. 2. Secularized Egyptians who were "fed" by the Hosni Mubarak tyranny. 3. Military and police in civilian clothes. 4. Coptic Christians. 5. Muslims, even women in hijab, who hate the Muslim Brotherhood so much that they support the new Pharoah. '[Muslim disunity is a major factor in the success of tyrants.]
However, thousands of Egyptians came out in every city to oppose the General and to support President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. The army sent Hosni Mubarak gangsters and police to attack the demonstrators. By the end of the day, 49 Islamic people had been killed and more than 250 wounded. In addition the police arrested 1079 Muslims to crush the Muslim Brotherhood. The Ikhwan are unarmed and are strictly peaceful. They even condemned the martyrdom operation.
In Suez, the same day, mujahideen killed 5 policemen and got away.
[In Libya, January 24, 6 diplomats of the Egyptian embassy were kidnaped after Egypt arrested a Libyan commander who had gone to Cairo for treatment.]
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Breaking News: Syria
January 25: During the Geneva talks, the Alawite army led by Assad tried to break through the mujahideen lines in the Damascus suburbs, in Aleppo and on the highway to Homs. The Assad forces failed to advance in spite of air support and in some areas were beaten back.
The infighting among the opposition groups was an opportunity for Assad to score victory but he failed. The Iranians had already declared that the opposition's back has been broken and the war will soon be over. What a surprise for Iran and Assad, the mujahideen haven't lost even one position
The situation in the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk is horrifying even for hardened observers. Assad is punishing the Palestinians for supporting the mujahideen. In Homs too the population which rose up against Assad is in terrible distress. Assad's forces cannot win but they can use artillery and aircraft to attack any movement on the roads, making food movement impossible. [There has been a rally in Ramallah by Palestinians supporting Yarmouk.]
A defector from Assad's army has brought a copy of catalogued report of torture and murder of 10,000 and more prisoners by the regime. The report is well authenticated with photos, government reports and official numbering of each prisoner murdered by the regime.
Three ideological forces are at work in Syria:
1. The Assad-Iranian-Hizbullah vision of a Shi'ite empire with Assad firmly in place. The Syrian people would be slaves. For Assad all his opponents are terrorists.
2. The American-Saudi-secularized Syrian coalition which would want a gentler "democratic" version of the Assad regime. Perhaps a transitional government with Alawites still running the show with Syrian Christians but Assad gently sent into exile. The role of Kurds and Turkey would be here too but not very clear yet.
3. An Islamic Syria combined with western Iraq with hard core shari'a rule, strongly supported by mujahideen and donors from across the Muslim world, particularly Libya and the fighters getting mobilized in Egypt and Gaza.
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Breaking News: Pakistan
January 19-25. More than 30,000 people [6000 families] have fled North Waziristan following a full scale artillery bombardment and aerial bombing of villages seen as supporting the Pak Taliban. [Source Fox News.] The indiscriminate bombing and shelling by the Paki military has killed 40 civilians and injured many more. [It has been a long time demand of the US that the army should occupy North Waziristan and crush the Islamic resistance.]
On January 19, the Pakistanis were sneaking an entire military convoy into the area when it was struck by the mujahideen with a remote controlled bomb which killed 22 troops and wounded 30. It appears that the military commanders went bersek and started attacking all the villages allegedly supporting the Pak Taliban.
In Karachi on January 25, attacks on police killed 6 policemen. Attackers are unknown,
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Breaking News: Iraq
January 22-25. The Shi'ite Maliki regime's attacks on Fallujah and Ramadi failed. The two towns as well as all of Anbar province to the Syrian border are in the hands of the Iraqi branch of al-Qaida known as ISIL. Parts of Ramadi have been taken by pro-regime Sunnis who are fighting al-Qaida.
There are daily attacks in Baghdad and now in Baquba by the ISIL. Meanwhile al-Maliki has executed 16 prisoners supporting al-Qaida by hanging.
The US is rapidly shipping weapons to the Maliki regime, It has also decided to train Maliki's Special Forces in Jordan.
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Our America: Baltimore, Maryland. January 20.
A Day of Amr Bil Mauroof and Nahi Unal Munkari:
Muslim Activists and Others Rally at MLK Day Parade, Challenge Mayor, Governor, States Attorney, and Police
By Nadrat Siddique
Special to New Trend Magazine
It was an unusual and thought-provoking day at Baltimore's MLK Day Parade. As much of the crowd jumped and pranced as if at a football game, an adhoc group of activists, calling themselves the "No More Jim Crow Justice" Contingent, brought attention to critical issues in Baltimore. It was one of thefirst times that parade-participants and attendees alike were challenged to consider the cynicism of holding a parade in the name of a man who fought for race and class equality--in a city where neither exists. The activists carried signs bearing messages such as "NO—to Baltimore's System of Jim Crow Justice" and "King Had a Dream?? Tell That to Baltimore Killer Cops."
The parade start was announced, and the procession slowly began, led by the Governor, the Mayor, and the States Attorney. Suddenly, one of the protestors, David Anthony Wiggins, shouted through a megaphone at the smug trio "You have blood on your hands!" He demanded justice for Maurice Johnson, Anthony Anderson, Tyrone West, and other Black men murdered in cold blood by racist police in Baltimore. Wiggins, who is a senior fellow at the Baltimore Black Think Tank and considering a run for Baltimore City Sheriff, told the trio "You have the power to stop police brutality." His previous run for Sheriff propounded a platform emphasizing accountability for public servants, including police.
Float after feel-good float passed, only to be challenged by the band of committed activists, who were strategically located near the Master of Ceremonies booth.
Planned Parenthood—known for its racist roots—was challenged for its complicity in population control. More recently, the organization pushed for Norplant, Depo-Provera, and similar birth control devices amongst Baltimore's Black population on a scale unparalleled in other populations here. White Supremacist organizations, often-times in cahoots with the government have a history of similar practices on Native American reservations, where vast numbers of indigenous women have been sterilized against their will.
The primarily Black drivers of a fleet of corvettes were tossed questions on the infrequently discussed topic of D.W.B. (Driving While Black). The Jerusalem Temple No. 24 Prince Hall masons (Freemasons) were challenged for their grab of world markets. A Black Motorcycle riders club was asked to "Ride Against Police Brutality."
In a sign that officials are aware that Baltimore—rife with corruption, social inequality, and massive disenfranchisement of the majority Black population—is a pressure cooker, and that failure to allow some dissent might result in a broad scale unrest, a limited number of progressive groups were permitted official participation in the parade. The Workers and Peoples Assembly and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union--both protesting abuses against drivers by Veola; Healthcare Now; Veterans for Peace; Community Mediation; and others proudly marched in the parade. The Women in Black, an anti-war group active against the Iraq War since its inception, with its eye-catching props of women in hijab, drew a great deal of attention from the crowd. One of its members carried a sign decrying the use of drones.
Nearing the end of the parade, a phalanx of police marched down the parade route. Before they could reach the MC's booth, Wiggins, followed by the growing group of activists, walked up on them. "No more killer cops! Justice for Maurice Johnson! Justice for Anthony Anderson! Justice for Tyrone West," he shouted via megaphone at the Boys in Blue. Some of the police twittered. Wiggins waxed didactical.
"I know you're not all bad cops," he said. "If you're not a bad cop, turn in the bad cops."
It seemed the phalanx was surprised. With the cushion of a (Zionist) attorney general, Greg Bernstein, ready to exculpate any officer accused of wrongdoing on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, they seemed unaccustomed to any organized challenge.
Activists, whose near and dear ones had been murdered by police, loudly shamed the police contingent, which was now at a standstill. A female activist, whose boyfriend was murdered by police, took the megaphone to chastise them for crimes against the population they ostensibly served. Some of the police appeared embarrassed or chagrined, while others were in denial. A lone Black woman supporter of the police, carrying a placard bearing an American flag, approached the scene, commending the police on their work in the community. Interestingly, as the police phalanx bore down the parade route, the primarily Black crowd thinned, until the few who were left ran off. It was clear they did not view the police as their friend. And—in yet another indication of the deeply compromised state of the local corporate media—Fifth Branch of the Government, some would opine—a major challenge to government officials and police earned scarcely a passing reference, not even for the purpose of selling papers with news of the highly unprecedented action.
In another groundbreaking development, members of Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen, a small grassroots mosque in the Govans area of Baltimore's West Side, attended the parade in force. Clearly identifying themselves as Muslim, and operating on the principles of amr bil mauroof (enjoining the good) and nahi unal munkari (forbidding the evil), mosque members offered strong support to the protestors calling for an end to police brutality. Masjid members held signs saying "Muslims Honor Dr. King" and "Islam Advocated Racial Equality 1400 Years Ago."
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Protestors chanting slogans at police force against police brutality on MLK Day, January 20, in Baltimore.
Thousands watched this Jamaat placard during the MLK parade in Baltimore.
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Outreach:Our America
Jamaat al-Muslimeen Literature given to 100 people in 14 degrees after Juma
January 24:
At the main Islamic Center in Newark, Delaware, 6 pages of Jamaat al-Muslimeen literature were given to 100 Muslims, mostly Arab Americans, after Juma' salat. The contents were:
1. Palestine is like Bilal r.a. [Poem by Shaukat Khan]
2. After Buddhist mobs, military moving against Muslim Rohingya minority in Burma.
3.Bangladesh "elections," Egypt's "referendum," Assad starving Palestinians in Yarmouk.
4. Jews milking America: Springsteen, Spielberg, Weinstein, Ruth Westheimer, Blitzer...
5. Those trying to stop Dr. Siddique's writings: by Sis. Aisha
7. Dr. Kaukab Siddique: Khutbas on Assimilation and Ghettoization: What does Islam say.
Extreme cold did not stop the distribution. Egyptians were discussing the attack on Police HQ in Cairo. The khutba was on doing good every day. A brother from West Indies loudly gave high praise to the Jamaat literature.
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Our America: Jamaat al-Muslimeen, New York
Ad shows Hijabi Woman with a Kafir Man: Media Violating our Islamic Rights
by sis. Aisha [January 24]
I just saw a disturbing commercial on Channel 11 in New York City for the product Snore Stop. It is an oral spray that one uses before going to sleep to stop snoring. Well, you see a man and a woman get into bed before retiring for the night. The man sprays the Snore Stop in his mouth and retires to bed. The next clip is of the same man, wearing a military uniform, having breakfast. A Hijabi woman appears. He asks her if she had a good night sleep and she smiles and says, "yes", kisses him and they both leave the house. This commercial is on You Tube: http://youtu.be/nW7K8JN12lk
I found this commercial offensive. A Hijabi woman with a kafir man! There is, obviously, an agenda going on here because the people behind this marketing campaign would never feature a commercial with an Hasidic woman and a non-Jewish man. But, who is behind this, useless, campaign? Is it Americanized, secular "Muslims"? The kaafiruun don't respect Muslims but, I don't see anything like this happening without "permission" from these weak, boot licking "Muslim leadership."
I plan to write Snore Stop to show my displeasure with this commercial. This is a new commercial, which accompanies the Snore Stop "Be Together" billboard campaign, in 2013. The billboard featured an Hijabi woman hugging an American soldier. This ad was inspired by a real life married couple, Jamie and Aleah Sutton. However, Paul Evans and his Muslim girlfriend are the ones posing in the billboard. There is a December 2, 2013 PetaPixel.com article about Clear Channel, who owns many many billboards in New York City rejected this billboard because of its "uncomfortable imagery." Interestingly, this move was called bigoted!
Snore Stops campaign message is this: If we can keep this odd (my word) couple together then, we can keep anyone together. They could not get any other advertisers to feature their billboard campaign in heavily populated Times Square but, I guess, they found takers for this commercial on television.
The fact that this campaign features a real-life married couple makes any effort to stop it difficult. It would be the same with a Black American featured in an offensive ad with a White American. Of course, the issue is not a racial one. It would be an issue of the oppressive relationship that White people have with Black people and to depict a Black and White person holding hands or living in harmony in an advertisement would be an insult to our intelligence.
Seeing a Muslimah hugging an American soldier is just as offensive! These soldiers are murdering and raping Muslims all over the world! I don't even know if the soldier is Muslim or not but, he is proud to wear that military uniform, which is just as much a sign of oppression in the Muslim World as much as the American flag is to Native and Black Americans!
However, the same idiots who promote homosexuality in ads are going to overlook the oppression that exists in these relationship and say, "What's wrong with it? Love is Love!"
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Sectarianism buster
Evidence that Ali, r.a., gave his BAYAT [oath of allegiance] to Abu Bakr, r.a.
Now we come to a Shia's claim that Ali, r.a., did not do bayat of Abu Bakr, r.a.
The documentation shows that Ali, r.a., not only did bayat, he did it TWICE. First he did it in a hurry. Then he came back after Fatima, r.a., passed away and did it again with full tribute to Abu Bakr, r.a.:
." Habib bin Abi Thabit narrates: Ali, r.a., was in his home when he was told that Abu Bakr, r.a., was taking bayat in the masjid. Ali, r.a., wearing only his long shirt and without his chadar and lower clothes rushed to the masjid to ensure that his bayat was not delayed. He did Abu Bakr's, r.a., bayat, and then sat down with Abu Bakr, r.a., and sent someone home to get the rest of his clothes . He wore his when they were brought and kept sitting there with Abu Bakr, r.a." [ Tabari's Tarikh, vol. 1. Page 535. The Seerah of the Prophet, pbuh.]
Six months later after Fatima, r.a., passed away:
"Narrated by Muammar. After Zuhr prayers Abu Bakr, r.a., spoke from the mimbar and offered his condolences to Ali, r.a. Then Ali, r.a., got up and spoke and stated the validity of Abu Bakr, r.a., right to be caliph and expressed the superiority of Abu Bakr, r.a., in Islam and Abu Bakr's, r.a., being first in accepting Islam. Then he went up to Abu Bakr, r.a., and did his bayat.
Ayesha, r.a., narrates, after Ali, r.a., did the bayat, all the people congratulated Ali, r,a., and said that O Ali you did very well. After he did Abu Bakr's bayat, people once more felt kindly towards Ali, r.a."
[Tabari's Tarikh, Volume 1, Page 536. The Seerah of the Prophet, pbuh.]
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Bangladesh
[Bangladeshi Opposition leader uncovers the reality of India-backed "elections." -Editor]
Diabolical roadmap to serve the regional hegemon
Sadeq Khan [via Khabor group]
On January 15, Begum Khaleda Zia held her first press conference after losing her position as the Leader of the Opposition in parliament following "sham" elections on January 5 which she boycotted and which most citizens rejected by voting with their feet or being deprived of any chance to vote in more than half of the constituencies, where the Election Commission failed to enlist any candidate other than ones "selected" by the ruling "neo Bakshal" clique of Sheikh Hasina. Khaleda thanked the people for the seal of "illegitimacy" that the absentee voters stamped on the infractuous 10th parliament, thereby staging a "silent revolution."
She seemed also to indicate that the silent revolution had enabled her to undertake a change of strategy from street agitation to dialogue for fresh polls with the new government by pressure of public opinion and engagements with the international community to augment such pressure. Earlier press reports suggested that the US ambassador and other Western diplomats, who found the January 5 polls ridiculously unrepresentative, had met Begum Zia and assured her of full moral support of the international community behind her bid for such a negotiated resolution of the political crisis and violent unrest in Bangladesh. In the press conference, Khaleda Zia called for "fresh dialogue" and for installation of a truly representative government through "fresh polls". She argued as follows:
Death of democracy
"At the very outset of 2014 of the English calendar, our people once again witnessed the death of democracy through a farcical election on the 5th of January. Voting centres all over the country, including the capital Dhaka, were barren. Nationwide, the voter turnout did not exceed a measly 5 percent. However, a completely partisan and subservient Election Commission was made to show a turnout of close to 40 percent.
"While protesting against the farcical election of 5 January, at least 22 people were killed by police firing alone. Since the announcement of the election schedule, more than two hundred people have died. Many more innocent lives have been lost because of actions of government agents in their vile attempt to sabotage the democratic movement. In the last five years, about twenty two thousand people have been killed. A few hundred political leaders and workers have been abducted and have not been heard of since. A reign of terror has been let loose on the people. To thwart the opposition movement for restoration of the people's voting rights, thousands of leaders of the BNP have been arrested on false charges, and they continue to languish in prison. An undeclared ban has been imposed on the normal political activities of opposition. Even peaceful protest marches were subjected to police firing. Raids have been carried out in people's homes under the guise of law and order drive by the so-called joint forces. In many cases, their houses have been destroyed; properties looted, and women and children often taken away by force. Such atrocity cannot be allowed to continue.
"The ordinary people, religious minded people, members of the minority community, the business community and professionals altogether are today passing their days in fear and uncertainty. And yet the government continues on its arrogant path. The country must be saved from this abnormal course. Peace, tranquillity and healthy competition must be restored. First and foremost, the protection of the most vulnerable people and the minority community has to be assured. In an attempt to divert public and international attention from the scandalous and farcical election, attacks are being launched on members of the minority community.
"We have been alerting all concerned of this possible eventuality for quite some time. In different parts of the country, incidents of violence against the minority community have been carried out with support and encouragement from government agencies. At the same time, blame is being put on opposition parties, whose members are being subjected to repression and torture. Media reports, however, clearly show the involvement of the government's own people in these vile incidents.
"I demand independent and credible inquiry into these wanton attacks to identify the real culprits, mete out appropriate punishment to all those involved and ensure that such incidents do not recur.
"The new Parliament has no public mandate and it lacks the approval of the people to govern.
"Hence this government lacks legality. Such a government does not feel accountable to the people for its actions. Continuation of such a situation is dangerous. This can only end with the replacement of this government by one that is elected credibly and one that enjoys public mandate."
War against people
On January 20, in a mammoth public meeting in Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka, permitted by the government to be held by the BNP and its allies on condition of exclusion of Jamaat leaders, the 18-party alliance leader Khaleda Zia joined by the dissident Jatiyo Party leader Kazi Zafar, again congratulated the people of Bangladesh for boycotting the January 5 polls and rendering the 10th parliament "selected" by Sheikh Hasina "illegitimate". She further raised questions about the weakened new government's supposed extra-territorial dependence on neighbourly boost and support in waging a war against the people countrywide, who have been agitating against the misrule of Sheikh Hasina's government.
She referred to the banning of daily Inqilab which published a leaked or faked document suggesting that Indian commando personnel borrowed by the RAB-Police-BGB joint forces' campaign against violent agitators in border districts took part in extra-judicial killings. The newspaper later apologised for publishing the report without prior confirmation from responsible quarters, but the ban on the newspaper's printing and publication has not yet been withdrawn. In the relevant report on January 16, the newspaper quoted sources claiming that Indian troops were seen among the members of law enforcers conducting joint operation in Jamaat-dominated Satkhira area. Begum Zia made an issue of the case as follows:
"The government had been killing and abducting people in the name of joint forces' drive across the country.
"The reports that the daily Inqilab published also appeared in Facebook and many online (media). If the incident was not true, the government should explain it. Why did the government arrest the journalists and seal off the press?" After the action, the government did in fact contradict the news and termed it 'completely false.'
Referring to Ershad's joining the new government of Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister's special envoy, Khaleda Zia in her public meeting in Suhrawardy Udyan commented: "The two autocrats are (now together for) eating up the country and plundering the country's assets." In conclusion she said it was necessary to initiate a dialogue immediately with a view to hold an acceptable election to bring peace in the country.
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Eyewitness Account
Old Makkah Fights Back. [See New Trend January 19 for part 1]
How the writer battled Serious Sicknes
from asqfish.wordpress.com
Salah is the easiest and can be the shortest and most concise ebadah in all of those designated to us as muslims. Unless behest with a debilitating disease it can be accomplished with ease both in time and in effort.
I had promised myself forty Salah in the Masjid e Nabvi. Why forty? Because Prophet Muhammad said that it takes forty repetitions to make something a habit.
The Quran also speaks of 40 in many some of the surahs: The forty days of the silent retreat of Moses with Allah. The age of forty when a human being must turn to Allah, fulfill his obligation to his parents and change his focus from duniya to Akhirah. There is also a hadith:
According to Anas, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has also said:
"The person who offers 40 prayers consecutively in my Mosque, without missing a prayer in between, will secure immunity from the fire of Hell and other torments and also from hypocrisy." (Musnad Ahmad)
A Pakistani woman I had met at Hajj, who told me she had prayed for years to be invited to the Prophets mosque to pray forty Salah, and tears brimmed her eyes as she said she was so thankful that finally she was here. I was extremely touched and inspired by her devotion that I decided to do this with a single-minded focus at some point in my life.
Once I decided that my prime reason for being in Medina would be to pray at the Prophets mosque, Allah opens the path and makes it easy to get there and to resist the pull of shopping, clothes, food and tourism while I was there.
What I had not envisioned when I happily bound for Medina that within me the inhaled fragments of Old Makah would come alive and wreck havoc, within my body weeping to be let out perhaps to lay at the feet of the Rasool pbuh and complain………to Allah, seek his the Wasilla of the rasool pbuh to ask Allah to stay the sledgehammer that so ruthlesslessly and mercilessly is taking down Old Makkah. The incessant wrecker ball is disturbing the path of the Prophet and his sahabah in Mecca.
The nine days in Medina became my Saee in Medina. I was not emulating Bibi Hajra here; I was only working towards fulfilling a promise I had made to myself of the 40 salah in Masjed e Nabvi.
Friday came and the Khutbah was on Tauba or repentance, surprisingly it was followed with an urdu translation. As the day wrapped up, my body became unhinged; every joint felt it had fallen apart and every sinew hurt. I completed my isha salah and came to the room as I was expecting two friends to visit for a few days. That night I fell into a stupor of fever and my friends in consideration did not wake me for fajr salah………I had missed my opportunity of the forty consecutive salah in the masjed e Nabvi. This fact registered in my subconscious but I was not ready to give up, perhaps the hadith doesn't say consecutive I thought, my fevered mind pushing excuses.
I continued going to the mosque for the five Salah's, it became a habit to stay after Maghreb and pray salaat e awaabeen, recite the Quran till the iqama for isha would be called.
I noticed that the thinnest attendance at the mosque would be at Asr, which happened to be my favorite time.
At Asr when I entered the masjid the Zam Zam would cool my fevered brow that had broken loose from the effects of the ibuprofen and would pass into my body bringing cool comfort. I would then find my place in the front of the ladies section and pray Asr.
Sometimes after Asr Salah I would succumb to the peace of the half empty mosque. The swishing sounds of the cleaning women who whisked around picking up litter, replacing the chairs and Qurans to their proper places would be reassuring and were sounds of home in Pakistan.
The sunroof of the mosque would gently glide open, revealing the blue skies. Sunlight would stream in bringing a mix of the cool evening air mixed with the warmth of the sunbeams. The peace and tranquility of the sunbathed musallah would lull me into a sleep that was refreshing and energizing.
My companion on the left from Iran would cover me with her musallah as I slept and I would feel the vibes of compassion coming from her though no words were exchanged other that the salutation as neither of us knew each others language.
Somewhere along the way on one of the days I lost my phone and along with it my morning alarm and a sense of time. Fortunately the hotel operator surprised at my electronic free condition agreed to give me a wake up call for Fajr.
Fajr was my most challenging time. Getting out of the warm bed, completing my ablutions, putting on my coat and scarf, carrying my musallah and an extra shawl incase I could not get into the masjed because it had filled before I got there.
Many a time I prayed in the courtyard as the pink fingers of dawn lit the sky and the muted gold of the minarets and umbrellas lighted up.
The drawback of praying in the courtyard was that people left promptly after Salah and did not wait to complete their adkaars till the sun came up. The exiting crowd from the interior of the masjed was also a distraction and the temptation would be to let the adkaars be, get up and head back to the hotel and go back to bed…………
After completing the course of allopathic medicine which had made a minor difference in my respiratory illness I decided to go to the pharmacy and ask for something recommended by the Prophet as a cure of many diseases. I had been taking a course on Islamic medicine but had not reached those details yet. I had read enough about it to know that if it was pure the hadith recommended it.
Aisha RA said that she heard the Messenger PBUH say, "This black seed is a cure for every disease except death." (Bukhaari).
Allopathic medicine at Web MD says: There is some scientific evidence to suggest that black seed might help boost the immune system, fight cancer, prevent pregnancy, and lessen allergic reactions by acting as an antihistamine.
Other references say: The Nigella Sativa seed itself contains numerous esters of structurally unusual unsaturated fatty acids and the chemical composition is very rich and diverse. Apart from its active ingredient, crystalline nigellone, it contains 15 amino acids (including eight of the nine essential ones), carbohydrates, fatty acids including linolenic and oleic, volatile oils, alkaloids and dietary fibre, as well as minerals such as calcium, iron, sodium and potassium. Recent research on the black seed as an anti-biotic, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-histaminic, anti-bacterial, anti-bronchial and immune boosting agent has shown great promise. http://www.muslimhealthnetwork.org/ls_black_seed.shtml
I had read about the cure of the black seed in Imam Suyutis book on Tib e Nabawi and regretted that I could not recall more about dosage and frequency of taking it.
One day when I had exhausted all my allopathic medical options and my spasms of coughing were unremitting and becoming disturbing in their intensity and frequency I decided to go in search of the black seed oil.
After fajr Salah I walked intto the only pharmacy that was open besides the manic vendors selling clothes, scarfs and perfume in the footpaths.
The pharmacist in a crisp white jacket was young, fresh faced; soft in expression intelligent green eyes greeted me with a reserved non-familiar greeting of salaam.
I asked if he had the black seed oil. "What kind" he asked. Observing my nonplussed expression he asked what I wanted it for hair or other ailments.
"Cough and bronchial infection" I said. He asked his assistant to bring the black seed oil from the upper echelons of the pharmacy. Meanwhile a man from Pakistan came in and asked for a medicine, which the pharmacist could not understand. I asked the paksitani man what it was for "he said pain" do you have the name written somewhere I asked. he showed me the name on a text message from his doctor friend which was unfamiliar to me. I looked it up on my phone and it was an anti inflammatory drug. He showed the text message to the pharmacist who located it immediately.
Meanwhile two types of black seed oil arrived, one was from Syria and the other was a cold press from Wadi Nahl. "How many times" I asked, "three times a day for your illness, and once a day to maintain" he replied.
I was out of there coughing my lungs out; I got to the hotel, opened the bottle and took a teaspoon of the pungent oil. As it slid down my throat it burned in places and then a calm settled in my chest for a few hours to the point that I forgot that I had a cough……………
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Canada
A Not-So-Subtle Campaign Against Islamic women.
Canada's Muslim Women Targeted In Latest Example Of Islamophobia
By Laila Alawa
"I hope the charter hearings succeed, to get you all out of the country and back home where you belong."
Sama Al-Obaidy was heading home on the Montreal Metro when the woman came up to her and began pulling at one end of her headscarf, trying to pull it off several times while saying, "It doesn't belong here." It was not until Al-Obaidy brushed the woman's hand away that the woman stopped harassing her, and instead began yelling that Al-Obaidy was violent, just as all Muslims are violent.
Her encounter mirrors the plethora of religious and headscarf-related assaults that have taken place in the last few months. The instances have been directly prompted by the announcement of a proposed secular charter by the Parti Quebecois that would prohibit public employees from wearing overt religious symbols to work. The minister in charge of the charter, Bernard Drainville, announced that if the charter were adopted by legislature, the wearing of kippas, turbans, burqas, hijabs and "large" crosses would be banned. However, elected members of the national assembly would not be subjected to the regulations. Given that the Muslim population in Canada is growing at a rate that exceeds even the number of Canadians identifying as having no religion, this poses a serious issue. "I know lots of people who would lose their jobs if [this charter] were put in motion, and they are afraid for their safety," Al-Obaidy said in an exclusive conversation with PolicyMic.
The harassment jarred Al-Obaidy, not so much for the actual harassment, but because of the reactions of those present during the event. As it happened, Al-Obaidy looked around at those watching in the crowded metro station and saw nothing but apathy in the young people surrounding the two women. "People can't be bothered to react," she realized, after another incident when a man beside her on the train told her, "So, is this when you're going to blow yourself up," after seeing her reading the Quran on her phone. The incident revealed that the man, along with many Canadians, just do not know much about Muslims, thus prompting the fear and ignorance from which the proposed charter is now benefiting.
With that realization, she and two other women, her sister Yusr Al-Obaidy and Nariman El-Doraini, set out to launch Support Another, a campaign that promotes mutual understanding and respect through experience and dialogue. "Since the discussions of the charter of values have surfaced, there have been hundreds of reported cases of verbal and physical assaults against visible minorities, wearing religious symbols, in our own streets of Quebec," the group explains on their Facebook page. In response to the harassment, the campaign has worked to help Canadians against the charter put themselves in the shoes of visible minorities, letting them feel the looks and better understand misconceptions and experiences that can only truly be understood experientially.
Although hearings for the charter began on January 14, Al-Obaidy is hopeful that it does not succeed in cutting off a percentage of Quebec's vibrant population from the opportunity to live and work in Canada. As the Support Another campaign has developed and flourished, she has found that people who are not religious have been defending the campaign and subsequent dialogue. She stresses that "whether you're for or against the charter, be against the violence." That has happened as a result of the proposed charter.
Courtesy freedetainrees.org
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Courtesy Reuters
U.S. woman known as Jihad Jane sentenced to 10 years in plot
PHILADELPHIA
Colleen LaRose, known by the self-created pseudonym of ''Jihad Jane'', is pictured in this photo released by Site Intelligence Group on March 10, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Site Intelligence Group/
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday sentenced an American woman who called herself Jihad Jane to 10 years in prison - at least a decade less than prosecutors had sought for her role in a failed plot to kill a Swedish artist who had depicted the head of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad on a dog.
Colleen R. LaRose, 50, who converted to Islam online and has maintained her faith, was given credit for the four years she has already served. LaRose, who pleaded guilty to following orders in 2009 from alleged al Qaeda operatives, could have received a life sentence.
"It's a just and reasonable sentence," her attorney, Mark Wilson, told reporters after the hearing. "She's pleased. Ten years is about what we were hoping for all along."
U.S. District Judge Petrese Tucker called LaRose's crimes "gravely serious," adding: "The court has no doubt that, given the opportunity, Ms. LaRose would have completed the mission."
Tucker also cited the significant cooperation LaRose has given the Federal Bureau of Investigation in other terrorism cases since her 2009 arrest, as well as the sexual and other abuse she suffered as a child. That abuse was chronicled in a 2011 Reuters investigative series.
LaRose, who used the name Jihad Jane as she became involved in the Muslim online community, traveled to Europe in 2009 intending to participate in a militant plot to shoot artist Lars Vilks in the chest six times. But LaRose became impatient with the men who lured her to Europe and she gave up after six weeks and returned to Philadelphia, where she was arrested.
At Monday's hearing, LaRose apologized for blindly following the instructions of her handlers.
"I was in a trance and I couldn't see anything else," she said. "I don't want to be in jihad no more."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams had sought "decades behind bars" for LaRose, arguing that despite her extensive cooperation, she still was a danger to society. Prosecutors also had pointed out that LaRose - a blond, green-eyed, white American - did not fit the stereotype of an Islamic militant.
"This is a sentencing that people are watching," Williams said on Monday. "Ms. LaRose had such a big impact in the public and press because she really did change the face of what the world thought of as a violent jihadist. It was scary for people to hear that Ms. LaRose could have been radicalized simply online in the U.S."
CHILDHOOD SCARS
Wilson told the court that the plot to kill Vilks was "more aspirational than operational" and that LaRose had never even fired a gun.
He had described LaRose as a lonely and vulnerable woman easily manipulated by others online. Her behavior, while not excusable, can be explained in part by deep psychological scars from her childhood, he said.
LaRose's biological father repeatedly raped her from about age 7 to 13, when she ran away and became a prostitute, according to court documents. At age 16, LaRose married a man twice her age and later became a heavy drug user.
"I survived a lot of things that should have rightfully have killed me," LaRose told Reuters in a 2012 interview.
While LaRose was in contact with an al Qaeda operative in Pakistan, her conspirators repeatedly bungled a plot that never moved much past the planning stages. Vilks, the artist, had told Reuters that he believes LaRose has spent enough time in prison and should be freed.
"That's a pretty tough sentence," Vilks told the Swedish news agency TT on Monday.
Under U.S. sentencing rules, LaRose likely will serve 90 percent of her sentence, which means she will be eligible for release around 2020. She has requested imprisonment near her sister, Pam LaRose, in the Fort Worth, Texas, area, but a final decision will be up to the Bureau of Prisons.
LaRose was in solitary confinement for four years but recently moved to the general population at a Philadelphia jail.
Ali Damache, LaRose's alleged handler in Ireland, remains jailed there, fighting extradition to the United States on terrorism charges. Jamie Paulin Ramirez, who flew from Colorado to marry Damache in Ireland, has pleaded guilty to related terrorism charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday.
The sentencing for another co-conspirator who has pleaded guilty, Mohammad Hassan Khalid, has delayed in order to complete psychological evaluations. Khalid, who grew up in Pakistan and was an honor student in suburban Baltimore, committed his crimes when he was 15 and 16. He is the youngest person ever charged with terrorism inside the United States.
According to a November report in the Guardian newspaper, documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the U.S. National Security Agency, to the British newspaper show that the FBI became involved in the Jihad Jane case after the NSA intercepted communications.
(Reporting by John Shiffman; Editing by Bill Trott, Doina Chiacu and Jonathan Oatis)
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