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Islamic Art Exhibit at Islamic Cultural Center ...

Amjad Sabri thrills Indian Pakistani crowd at Indian Culture Center. See Page 8

Fiji Hindu pritests appointed Commision to probe the disappointing Diwali Article in Rocky Ali Buksh’s Fiji newsapaper plans to take serious legal action. (See report page 4)

MAY, 2010

PAGE- 11

Koran in Moari

By Pakistani Muslim In Focus Syed Rifat Mahmood

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O people!

Muhammed is not the father of any of your men, but he is the messenger of Allah, And the seal of the Prophets: And Allah has full knowledge of all things.

- Al Qur'an Surah 33 Al Ahzab verse 40 ( Abdullah Yousuf Ali )

VOLUME-01 ISSUE-01

PAGE- 11 No, that’s not what he meant !

More Asians take to training for Obama’s Oganizing for America

NEWARK, CA – In an effort to boost an early start for the 2010 elections, Obama’s national training team is aggressively emgaging grassroots volunteers as team managers and leaders to get everyone to get out and cast their votes for a better America. Team leader Ms Shobana Moorthy (seated left front row) and her team of orgnizers conducted a leaderhsip training on April 24 here and appointed four committees to commence work at city level. Fiji Sun edited opted to help organize a team in the City of Hayward. The OFA – Ogranizing for America team vows not to leave any stone unturned to reach out to everyone to get out and vote. They are strongly planned to use the strategy thye use in Nevda which led to voctory and mobilize volunteers to double their efforts. “There’s no room for complecancy”, one of leader insisted.

Ground breaking ceremony of new mosque corner of Tully Rd and Ruby Dr. San Jose

The visiting Mufti likened a mosque to the powerhouse where Muslims get together 5 times a day to get the light from Allah. He said building of a mosque serves its true purpose if built on Taqwa (righteousness). If built for any other reason then it is a “masjide darrar”

Above the Musti waits leaning on a spade as a fellow Imam recites Quran before the ground-breaking by the Mufti sahib. Earlier an Imam announced that Mufti sahib did not like pictures taken. He hesitated first then moved in to do the honors. The new would mosque solve current parking problem faced by the community at the San Jose downtown mosque. The new property will provide a learning center, a mosque anad halls for various social activities. Members are donating generously to see a mosque within 18 months, the chapter president explained. The ceremony attracted close to 100 people on a hot Saturday afternoon Feb 18.

02

MAY, 2010

San Jose City Officials observe Eid at Baitul Basir Mosque-Milpitas The

EDITORIAL & OPINION The News H. Koya (PhD) Editor/Publisher

Serving on the NCIC Board I

am honored and indeed humbled by an invitation accorded me by Imam Bilal the current chair to serve no his Board of Northern California Islamic Council.

I am motivated by the overall mission and objectives of NCIC that seeks to serve and coordinate the efforts and resources of ALL Muslim organizations and businesses in Northern California by no means a small task.

In accepting the invitation, I thought it is service to our Deen and service to humanity and I felt that I am able to make some significant contribution to help NCIC achieves its primary goal With the first keeping in mind Imam Board Training Bilal’s call for some new blood as some of the accomplished, founding members I hope and moved out of state NCIC, I though was crepray Inshah ated with good intention and for a noble course Allah we will and as such it needs to all work as a be kept alive both through an active Board formidable as well as effecting proteam to set up grams that would benefit all Muslims of Northern accomplish California.

I have been appointed NCIC goals for chair of the Education 2010 and and Science committee of the NCIC Board and beyond. as a first step I obtained approval of the Board and successfully moderated the first NCIC Board Training. It was agreed that we need to put our own house in order before we could offer services to fix things for others.

Managing a non-profit, I impressed upon everyone as the NCIC Board Training last month, is no different from operating a business enterprise. In both situations, one managers people and resources to achieve the organization goals using the same management principles.

With the first Board Training accomplished, I hope and pray Inshah Allah we will all work as a formidable team to set up accomplish NCIC goals for 2010 and beyond.

PO Box 265, Mt. Eden, CA 94557

PH 510-677-4488 FAX 510-781-4884 Email: drhkoya@hotmail.com

F

or past several years, local Muslim community leaders have been striving to establish a council to promote coordination and cooperation among mosques and Muslim nonprofit organizations through collective consultation. The Northern California Muslim community achieved a milestone on Dec 8, 2007 with the formal launch of the Northern California Islamic Council (NCIC). The inauguration event was attended by 250 directors, Imams and members of Masajid and Muslim non-profits across California. Shura is an Arabic word for consultation which is rooted in the central idea that people are equal in their rights and responsibilities. Northern California Islamic Council is a peer-to-peer network of advice and support for Muslim non-profits with an aim to provide a united Muslim voice to the community at large. We hope that the non-binding consultation among Muslim non-profit organizations will help build trust and confidence in the light of Qur’’anic verse, “?those who conduct their affairs by counsel” (43:38) The primary goals and objectives of the council are to:

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? Promote collaboration and cooperation among Muslim non-profits ? Help build consensus on issues of common interests and concerns ? Improve leadership communication and management skills ? Strengthen communities through education, empowerment and mobilization The Mosques and Muslim organizations in Northern California serve more than half a

million Muslims and Northern California Islamic Council aspires to leverage the collective wisdom of a truly representative body with clergy and lay leaders from a very diverse Muslim community.

Such a successful model already exists in the Shura Council of Southern California for over a decade Council to NOT interfere in internal affairs of Muslim non-profits, nor to offer conflicting or parallel programs and services

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UN powers back new sanctions against Iran

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MAY, 2010

UNITED NATIONS: The United States introduced a resolution backed by all veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council that would impose new sanctions against Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and seek to curtail military, financial and shipping activities linked to its suspect nuclear program.

US Ambassador Susan Rice said the resolution would give "greater teeth" to existing sanctions and add "strong" new measures to intensify pressure on the Iranian government to resolve concerns that its nuclear program is peaceful and not aimed at producing nuclear weapons.

Russia and China, which have

MIDDLE EAST NEWS close ties to Iran, joined fellow permanent council members Britain, France and the United States as well as non-member Germany in supporting the sanctions proposal, ignoring a deal that Tehran agreed to a day earlier to try to stave off the penalties.

Rice said the pursuit of new sanctions has nothing to do with a proposed swap of nuclear material for Tehran's research reactor that Iran agreed to on Monday with Brazil and Turkey. She said the proposed resolution is targeting the Islamic Republic's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program and its plans to build 10 new nuclear facilities. The draft resolu-

tion would target a range of activities related to Iran's nuclear program including the Revolutionary Guard, which controls companies and organizations that have links to weapons proliferation, a senior US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the resolution has not been released publicly.

These companies and individuals would be added to a list of those subject to an asset freeze and travel ban which is still being compiled.

The draft would also ban Iranian investment in sensitive nuclear activities abroad such as uranium mining, prohibit the sale of eight categories of heavy weapons to the Islamic Republic including attack

helicopters, warships and missiles, and ban Iran from undertaking any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons, the official said.

The last sanctions resolution, adopted in March 2008, authorized inspection of cargo suspected of containing banned items on planes and ships owned or operated by Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. The US official said the new proposal would call on states to cooperate in inspections — which must receive the consent of the ship's flag state — and ban services to Iranian owned or contracted vessels suspected of carrying prohibited cargo.

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Saudi forces rescue two German girls held in Yemen RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's security forces have rescued two young German girls held hostage for nearly a year in neighboring Yemen, Riyadh said, but a family spokesman said their toddler brother was likely dead.

The girls, reported to be between 3 and 6 years old, were members of a German family of five who have been held by kidnappers the Yemeni government believes have links to Al-Qaeda. The pair were said to be in a good condition. "Saudi Arabia has retrieved two German children kidnapped in Yemen," a Saudi interior ministry spokesman said. "The two children were in a border area between the two countries."

Banned by Israel, Chomsky gives West Bank lecture by video West Bank: Noam Chomsky, a leading Jewish-American intellectual who is highly critical of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians delivered a lecture to Palestinian students by video link from Jordan.

Around 100 students packed into a room at Bir Zeit University near the West Bank city of Ramallah to watch the lecture, delivered by live-link from the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Chomsky, 82, told Reuters in a phone conversation from the Jordanian capital, Amman, he had traveled to the Allenby Bridge crossing on the Jordan River where Israeli immigration officials refused to allow him across. "They appar-

US academic Noam Chomsky speaks at Jordan's University in Amman

ently didn't like the fact that I was due to lecture at a Palestinian university and not in Israel," Chomsky said. After hours of questioning by border officials, Chomsky's passport was stamped with "Denied

Entry" and he was sent away.

Israel's interior ministry insisted the incident was a "misunderstanding" and said the 81-year-old professor had not been blacklisted, while a senior government source described the situation as "a total cock-up.” Although Israeli officials insisted he would be permitted to cross the border, Chomsky discovered on Monday there was no "official" guarantee he would be allowed in, so he decided to give the lecture by video link, the Haaretz daily reported.

Speaking to the paper about his lengthy interrogation at the border, Chomsky said he was told: "Israel does not like what you say."

Kingdom committed to fighting corruption’

A file video grab from Yemen's state television shows a protester displaying pictures of German hostages during a protest in the northwestern city of Saada on June 17, 2009 against the kidnap of nine foreign aid workers and the killing of three hostages. Two of the hostages were rescued by Saudi forces.

RIYADH: A Saudi delegation has reiterated its commitment to fighting corruption at a United Nations meeting on crime prevention in Vienna. Head of the delegation Abdullah Fakhri Al-Ansari, who is also acting director of the interior ministry’s legal affairs and international cooperation department, claimed the Kingdom is taking action against those involved in corrupt practices and is also working with other countries to tackle such crimes. He was speaking at the 19th session of the UN Committee on Crime and Criminal Justice, which runs until Friday. Al-Ansari added the Kingdom has signed a declaration to combat corruption as well as the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

FALLEN COMRADES: Iraqi soldier prepare to carry coffins bearing the remains of their comrades who were killed during the 1991 Gulf War at Safwan border crossing near Basra, 420 km southeast of Baghdad. Iraq on Monday held an official ceremony for receiving the remains of 55 soldiers from Kuwait.

Kuwait returns remains of Gulf War Iraqi soldiers

SAFWAN, Iraq: Kuwait returned to Iraq on Monday the remains of 55 Iraqi soldiers killed in the Gulf War in 1991, a month after they were found in a mass grave. Iraqi troops shouldered the remains in coffins draped with Iraqi flags during a ceremony in the town of Safwan along the border in a sign of cooperation between neighbors that have had a testy relationship since Saddam Hussein's army invaded Kuwait nearly two decades ago. Mahdi Al-Temimi, an official in Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, said the remains were found together in a grave in the Mutlaa area in northern Kuwait and 12 of the 55 had been identified. "The rest are still unknown and we hope that we will identify them by using DNA tests and tissue analysis," Temimi said. "This is the fifth time we have received remains of Iraqi soldiers from Kuwait and we have received more than 100 so far." A Kuwaiti embassy official said Iraq had handed over the remains of 280 Kuwaitis killed during the Gulf War. More than 360 Kuwaitis and others who lived in Kuwait when Iraq invaded are still unaccounted for.

Riyadh to sign pacts with Warsaw, Manila to avoid double taxation

RIYADH: The Council of Ministers is to sign accords with the Philippines and Poland to avoid cases of double taxation and crack down on tax evasion, Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja said.

Cabinet meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, also approved a memorandum of understanding with Brazil that enables political consultations between the two countries’ foreign ministries.

Khoja said the Cabinet adopted a resolution urging owners of untouched land to connect it to the public sewage network when they decide to develop it. The Ministry of

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah holds talks with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is Quartet envoy for the Middle East, at the king's palace in Riyadh.

Municipal and Rural Affairs was also instructed to set out rules and regulations for identifying lands that are under small ownership within three months. Earlier, King Abdullah briefed ministers on the outcome of his talks with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders during the half-yearly consultative summit in Riyadh, as well as his meetings with former British premier and Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair and Luxembourg’s crown prince Prince Guillaume. The Cabinet expressed its admiration for UNESCO after it hosted the King Abdullah Prize for Translation’s prize distribution ceremony and said it reflected the award’s global recogni-

Thousands of offenders held in Makkah Province

JEDDAH: Passport Department officials in Makkah Province arrested 24,387 people for employing, sheltering or supplying runaway maids this year, according to a senior official from the organization. The arrested also included forgers of residence permits. Brig. Misfar Al-Talaily, director for patrols at the department in Makkah Province, said the operations were conducted in collaboration with the police. “A remarkable achievement of our patrols in April was the arrest of an Asian expatriate who bought stolen passports and iqamas and used the details to forge other passports and residence documents from scratch so he could sell them on,” he said.

Karzai, Obama Meeting In The White House To Discuss Afghanistan The

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WASHINGTON : The war in Afghanistan will get worse before it gets better, President Barack Obama warned, but he declared his plan to begin withdrawing U.S. forces next year remains on track.

Standing alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama said, “What I’ve tried to emphasize is the fact that there is going to be some hard fighting over the next several months.” The two leaders spoke at a White House news conference as U.S.-led forces in

Afghanistan prepare to push hard into the Taliban’s birthplace in Kandahar province in June. The campaign for Kandahar, already under way in districts outside the city, is expected to be among the bloodiest of the nearly 9-year-old war. “There is no denying the progress,” Obama said. “Nor, however, can we deny the very serious challenges still facing Afghanistan.”

Karzai’s warm White House welcome followed months of sniping and frustration over management of

Suicide attackers target Afghan police

Kandahar. Three suicide bombers launched a coordinated assault on a police headquarters in southern Afghanistan overnight, damaging the compound and sparking a gun battle, officials said.

"The first suicide attacker detonated a motorcycle rigged into a bomb outside the border police compound in Kandahar city, destroying the outer wall of the compound," said senior police official Mohammad Ashraf Gharzai. "Two other suicide attackers then ran into the compound after the blast and opened fire on a border policemen in the building," said Gharzai. "After a 40-minute gun battle both suicide attackers were shot and the explosives strapped to their bodies went off," Gharzai said, adding that he had been at the compound when the attacks took place. "Only four policemen were slightly wounded," he added.

Ban Ki-moon to attend Afghan conference in Kabul

Kabul. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend an international conference on Afghanistan due to be held in the capital, Kabul, in July, Afghan officials said. Ban told Afghan President Hamid Karzai personally of his plans during a telephone call, the president's office said. The conference is due to be held on July 20 as a follow up to talks in London in January that pledged international support for Karzai's plans to reintegrate moderate Taliban fighters who renounce violence. US officials said last month that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other senior officials would take part in the July talks.

The compound had most of its windows broken and was littered with body parts of the suicide attackers, bullets and blood, an AFP reporter said. Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the attack but said the motorcycle bomb had been detonated by remote-control. The Afghan interior ministry confirmed the attack and that three policemen were wounded. Taliban-led militants have stepped up coordinated gun and suicide bomb assaults on the Western-backed Afghan government as part of their nineyear insurgency against the regime and 130,000 US-led foreign troops in the country. Bomb attacks and targeted assassinations have increased in Kandahar, where US-led troops are stepping up operations in a bid to beat back the Taliban and allow US troops to start withdrawing next year.

AFGHAN UPDATE

the war and about fraud allegations surrounding Karzai’s re-election last year. Both leaders said disagreements are normal with so much at stake.

“There are moments when we speak frankly to each other, and that frankness will only contribute to the strength of the relationship,” Karzai said with a smile. The United States has taken “extraordinary measures” to avoid civilian deaths in the war, Obama said, a nod to Karzai’s loud complaints last year

Court sentences 6 Somali pirates to death

SANAA, Yemen: A Yemeni security court has convicted six Somalis for piracy and sentenced them to death for seizing an oil tanker. Six other convicted pirates received 10 year prison sentences on Tuesday and the pirates they must together pay $2 million compensation to the Aden refinery company, which owns the tanker.

Yemeni coast guard forces freed the Yemeni oil tanker Qana in April last year shortly after it was attacked and hijacked by the pirates. The tanker was among four vessels sailing between the southern Yemeni ports of Mukalla and Aden under escort by a Yemeni coast guard boat. The other vessels escaped the attack. Three pirates and two crewmen died and four others were injured in the operation.

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that U.S. airstrikes were killing innocents and making enemies of those who might be friends. “I do not want civilians killed,” Obama said, adding that he is ultimately accountable when they are. Heavy restrictions on when U.S. warplanes can fire at suspected militants are among the changes to war policy installed by the general Obama sent last year to turn around the war. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, facing Obama and Karzai in the front row Wednesday, has said he is willing to let a few

killers slip away if it means saving civilian lives. Insurgents often hide among civilians, taking over homes or using refuge provided willingly by sympathizers. Obama accepted McChrystal’s argument that either way, killing the other people in a house only breeds resentment and makes it harder to argue that the U.S.-backed government in Kabul is on their side. “After all it’s the Afghan people we are working to protect from the Taliban,” Obama said.

Salang : Rescuers were set to resume the search for a plane carrying 43 people, including three Britons and an American, which crashed in the mountains of northern Afghanistan. It was unclear whether there were any survivors from Monday's crash. The Pamir Airways plane had been en route from the northern province of Kunduz to Kabul when it came down over the treacherous Hindu Kush mountains, shrouded in heavy snow. "I can confirm that a Pamir Airways plane has crashed over the Salang mountains with 38 passengers and five crew members on board," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told. Dozens of Afghan police and local residents

had started to climb the snowcapped mountains where the plane was believed to have crashed, Abdul Rehmand Sayeedkhaili, police chief of Parwan province, told AFP on Monday. A highway task force, responsible for clearing snow from the Salang mountain pass -the main road from Kabul to northern Afghanistan -- reported hearing a blast at around the time the plane went missing, Sayeedkhaili said.

Snow, cold weather and the harsh terrain made the search operation difficult, he said, with nightfall forcing a halt to their efforts. NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), fighting against the Taliban, said it was assisting with the recovery operation.

Rescuers resume search for crashed Afghan plane

Taleban bombing kills 18 in Afghanistan, including 5 US troops KABUL, Afghanistan: A Taleban suicide car bomber struck a NATO convoy in Kabul Tuesday, killing six of its service members, five of them American, officials said.

Twelve Afghan civilians also died — many of them in a public bus in rush hour traffic.

Forty-seven other people were wounded in the blast, the first major attack in the capital since February when suicide bombers struck two small hotels in the city center.

That attack killed 16 people and led Afghan police to pledge that they would tighten security and surveillance. Police have publicized a number of arrests of would-be bombers

since then, but Tuesday's bombing was a reminder that the city's defenses can still be penetrated by determined attackers. Taleban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in a phone call from an undisclosed location that the bomber was a man from Kabul and his car was packed with 1,650 pounds (750 kilograms) of explosive. The target of the attack was the foreign convoy, he said. The area around the blast site was littered with debris as US troops and Afghan police held a security cordon around wrecked cars, the bus and sports utility vehicles. There were no obviously military vehicles but NATO

Ahmadinejad warns US against fresh sanctions New York. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned that a fresh round of sanctions against Tehran will be more detrimental to the US than Iran and it will close the door on improving ties between the two nations.

The permanent members of the Security Council and Germany are currently in negotiations about imposing a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for its nuclear programme. "This is nothing new. For 31 years, sanctions have been placed on us," Ahmadinejad told reporters. "We feel that and think that the US government will be

MAY, 2010

damaged more than us by those sanctions. It is very clear that if the United States starts sanctions against Iran it means that it is the end of (President Barack) Obama's efforts. It means that no change will occur," he added.

The blunt Iranian leader blasted the US for imposing sanctions but underlined that these steps had not weakened the country.

"The heaviest political pressures have been placed on us since the revolution (in 1979). Experience has proven that sanctions cannot stop the Iranian nation," he said.

"Iran is far more advanced and

powerful than 40 years ago," he said.

The Iranian leader was speaking to reporters in New York, a day after he clashed with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the opening day of the four-week United Nations Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Ahmadinejad slammed Washington for hounding Tehran over its nuclear programme while not pushing Israel, to which he referred to as a "Zionist regime", for getting rid of its nuclear weapons.

Israel does not confirm or deny having nuclear arsenal.

troops often travel in unmarked SUVs in the capital. NATO said six of its service members were killed in the attack, and US forces spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks confirmed that five of those were American. The nationality of the sixth was not immediately disclosed.

It was the deadliest attack for NATO in the capital since a September suicide bombing that killed six Italian soldiers. The attack comes as NATO readies a major offensive in the southern province of Kandahar, a major Taleban stronghold. At least 12 Afghan civilians also died and 47 were wounded Tuesday — most of them in the

packed city bus, the Interior Ministry said. President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack. "There were casualties among the NATO forces as well as among civilians — women, children and schoolchildren," Karzai told a news conference. NATO said that five of its vehicles were damaged and more than a dozen civilian vehicles. The Feb. 26 attack against two residential hotels killed six Indians, along with 10 Afghans. Afghan authorities blamed the attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba, the same Pakistan-based Islamist militia that India blames for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 166 people.

1,000 American Deaths In Afghanistan: A Sad Milestone

A suicide bomb attack in Kabul overnight claimed the lives of 18 people, including five U.S. servicemen. This attack pushed the war effort in Afghanistan past one of those grim milestones. The toll of American dead in Afghanistan passed 1,000, after a suicide bomb in Kabul killed at least five United States service members. Having taken nearly seven years to reach the first 500 dead, the war killed the second 500 in fewer than two. A resurgent Taliban active in almost every province, a weak central government incapable of protecting its

people and a larger number of American troops in harms way all contributed to the accelerating pace of death. This grim occasion — and the Times noting of the acceleration in U.S. deaths — reminds me that I’m often left with the impression that most observers regard counterinsurgency as a “soft” form of military engagement, more public relations than warmaking.

This isn’t the case. The strategy actually demands that countersurgent forces accept greater risks. Here’s the relevant material from the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual.

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MAY, 2010

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More than 600 crowd jammed the hall to listen to a three-hour entertaining Qawali by the famous Pakistan artist Amjad Sabri Qawal.

Amjad Sambri Qawal in Red Kurta

Dr. Mirza introducing Amjad

Jay and partner the Sound system people

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MAY, 2010

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"Koran in Moari" IN FOCUS

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NEIL DUDDY CROSSING CULTURES: Shakil Ahmad Monir has translated the Qur'an into Maori A local Muslim group is proving that when it comes to religion, you don't have to be lost in translation.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community has just translated the first half of the Muslim holy book – the Qur'an – into Maori. The published book was launched at a special ceremony on Saturday.

Most of the translation can be credited to Shakil Ahmad Monir, a Pakistani teacher who has lived and worked in Africa and Australia.

While working in a school in Nigeria Mr Monir began teaching

himself Maori with a Maori dictionary, Maori Bible and a book of Maori grammar. He then began translating the Qur'an into te reo, a task that took him almost 20 years.

"Not being Maori myself, there have been some limitations," he says. Mr Monir insisted on translating the Qur'an from Arabic straight into Maori because he says by translating it into English first it lost some of its meaning. He's had to create some new Maori words and sent the translations to New Zealand professors to make sure they were correct. But the final version of the translation is his own, just to make sure it is "carrying a sense of Arabic".

Israel is running out of time

MAY, 2010

For its centennial celebrations the Ahmadiyya Muslim community wanted to give thanks to God and so set about translating the Qur'an into 100 languages.

They've published more than 60 so far, including the Qur'an in Thai, Korean, Russian, Greek and Tuvalu. "We won't stop at 100 languages, we will go further," Mr Monir says. Missionary Shafiqur Rehman says the group hopes to introduce more Maori people to their religion. "We want to show them through their language who we are. "The Qur'an is for all mankind, all people, all races. It is their right to have it in their own language."

IN FOCUS

T

HE ISRAELI Prime Minister, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu is testing the resolve of American President Barack Obama with the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land. Despite their supposed indifference, Israelis have developed the habit in the last 50 years of taking American support for granted.

On a recent trip to Israel, Vice President Joe Biden was insulted and Syed Rifat humiliated by the Israelis when they made the announcement to build 1,600 new apartments in East Jerusalem.

This appeared to be a show of defiance by Bibi to intimidate Obama's administration and to challenge him, as well as to show the extent of the Israeli hold on the American Congress. On March 23, Netanyahu was invited to Capitol Hill by the members of Congress. It was a shameful occasion to see the surrender of American honor and dignity by our congressional leaders of both parties.

A smiling face, the leader of the house, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said to Bibi, "We in Congress stand by Israel," and, "In Congress, we speak with one voice on the subject of Israel." Conversely, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did show some courage to rebuke the Israeli housing expansion policies. In front of a large audience of Jewish Americans, Netanyahu made another provocative statement, "Jews have built homes in Jerusalem for the last thousand years and they will continue to build more houses." However, the American congressional leaders did not have the courage or guts to show support for their own president.

Netanyahu has no intention to start any serious peace negotiations with Palestine. He is not honest in his approach. He is simply using a delaying tactic and is stalling for time to grab Palestinian land. He knows that since 1967 American administrations have proved

to be ineffective in pursuing Israelis to move ahead with a meaningful peace process. His strategy is to drag any peace negotiating process close to the American presidential election. Therefore, Obama will not be able to exert any pressure on Israel to make any concessions. The charade of "confidence building measures" by Israelis is another political ploy.

Palestinians have tolerated Israel's brutal occupation Mamood since 1967. According to the U.N. Charter, they have the right to take every necessary action against an occupation, which also includes an arms struggle. The objective of the American Revolutionary War was to fight against the tyranny of the British Empire.

No confidence building steps were taken by either side. The issue of an Iranian threat is also a technique of the Netanyahu government to divert attention from the real issue of Palestinian occupation. Time is running out for Israelis to make an honorable peace settlement with the Arabs. America has paid a very high price financially and in human life for Israeli security. At present, Israel has only Hamas and Hezbollah to deal with. In the future, it may have to deal with many unknown factors. Israel should not take undue advantage of her friend the United States. One day, Americans are going to liberate the U.S. Congress and cut the hands loose from around the neck of the U.S. foreign policy. One of our Founding Fathers, George Washington, the first president of the United States and a wise man, warned America in his farewell speech not to have a permanent alliance with any country.

Perhaps it's time to listen to our elders.

Syed R. Mahmood has lived in Fremont, California more than 30 years. He is past president of UMA and a founder and president of American Institute of International Studies.

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Sister Sofia Omari Person of the month

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he Muslim News is proud to recognize sister Sofia Omari- owner-manager of Café Sofia of Palo Alto for taking a lead role in creating acute awareness of the growing crisis in Afghan in the current mad war. She recently helped organizes meetings with her Rotarian friends to screen a heart-wrenching documentary on the status of women and children the innocent victims caught in the middle of this senseless war in Afghanistan.

Regrettably, Afghanistan situation has not attracted world attention to warrant a total withdrawal of US and Allied army from the region.

NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT HE MEANT !

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MAY, 2010

NCIC/SUBSCRIPTION FROM

ISLAMIC ART EXHIBIT AT ISLAMIC CULTURAL CENTER OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (ICCNC), OAKLAND ICCNC member Ms Nabila attended to guests at the mosque and gave guided tour of the Exhibit and footnote explanations to then. The Exhibition last a week from April 24 to May 2nd. Members of the public were invited to bring their exhibit and display them. Ms Nabila said calligraphic work in Arabic were depicted in the leave and flowers as part of the praises they extend God for His creative art work of the entire world, the whole cosmos.

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AS SALAAM ALAIKUM

Insha’Allah this reaches you with a smile.

First and foremost, jazaka’Allah khair for your continuous support of CAIR’s work. I am writing tonight to invite you to a ‘Meet & Greet’ event, with some of the individuals running for local seats in the upcoming elections, at the CAIR-SFBA office. The purpose of this event is to provide community leaders and activists with an evening in which to meet local candidates in a setting that would allow for personal conversations and networking. CAIR’s mission includes the effort to educate and empower American Muslims. Voter mobilization has been one of the tools that we have used to forward this effort, and in an election year it is critical the community’s leadership is informed and involved in such efforts. We hope that your attendance at this event will create an avenue and relationship that will benefit you as a leader but also the larger community.

It is important that these candidates hear from American Muslims in the Bay Area.

Date: Friday, May 21 Time: 6:00-8:00pm Location: CAIR-SFBA Office (3000 Scott Blvd., Suite 101, Santa Clara)

Confirmed candidates for the ‘Meet & Greet’ include: Garrett Yee and Adnan Shahab Candidates for Assembly, 20th District (including Fremont, Newark, Hayward) RICH GORDON Candidate for Assembly, 21st District (including Los Altos, Los Gatos, Palo Alto)

DANIEL SAHAGUN Candidate for Congress, 16th Congressional District (San Jose) Donald Rocha and Xavier Campos: Candidates for San Jose City Council Peter Arellano and Forrest Williams: Candidates for Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors

So that we may plan accordingly, please RSVP by Thursday, May 20th to zbilloo@cair.com.

We look forward to hearing from you, and seeing you on the 21st, insha’Allah.

Jazak Allah Khair,

Khilafat Day Celebration Sunday May 22, 2010 From 12.30 PM to 4 PM

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Lunch served! All welcome!

AHMADIYYA ISLAMIC LIBRARY 449 West Mac Arthur Rd, Oakland, CA 94601

CALL 510-331-8704

he Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is celebrating its 5th successive Khilafat since it first started more than 100 years ago. Its founder Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad foretold his follows of the reemergence of Khilafat in his book The Will. Prophecies contained in the book came to pass in exact terms and timeframe. As a result, on his death he was succeeded by his devote follower Hazrat Maulana Haji Hakim Nurud-Din. On his demise Hazrat Mirza Bashir-Ud-Dean Mahmood Ahmad was elected second khalifa followed by Hazrat Mirza Nasir Ahmad as 3rd Khalifa, Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad as the 4th Khalifa and now Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad is the current and the 5th Khalifa. Jamat Ahmadiyya believes that Muslims are promised Khilafat in Sura Nisa Verse 56 and invites all to study the concept and welcomes any question on the subject.

1-800-why Islam

SPEAKERS NEEDED!!!!

MUSLIM FORUMS NEED SPEAKERS!

American Islamic Academy, Islamic Interfaith Forum, Muslim Writers Guild and Islamic Interfaith America are looking for speakers on varied subjects both interfaith and general subjects. Please fill out and return this form.

NAME : _________________________________

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Phone _______________Cell_______________ Subjects:Please state the subject area(s) you comfortable with and would like to speak on: (a)________________ (b)________________ (c)________________ (d)________________ MAIL TO:

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PO Box 265, Mt. Eden, CA 94557 Email : drhkoya@hotmail.com Fax: 510-781-4884

Islamic Law Society And

The Muslim News

Present : Panel Discussion on

“ISLAMIC CRIMINOLOGY” (Phase 1)

Sunday June 20, 2010 12 Noon to 3 PM CHANDNI RESTAURANT

INVITED PANELISTS: Imam Bilal, Syed Rifat Mahmood, Dr. Wahid

Siddiqi, Iftikhar Hai and Yeman Samut

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510-200-6264 or 510-677-4488

Hazrat KHADIJA bint Khuwaylid The

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azrat Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her, came from a noble family. Her father Khuwaylid had been one of the most honored leaders of their tribe until he was killed in battle. Her husband had also died, leaving her a very wealthy woman. When Muhammad (peace be upon him) was still a young man, she entrusted him with some of her wealth, asking him to trade with it in Syria on her behalf. He was already well known for his honesty, truthfulness and trustworthiness. He returned from Syria after having made a large profit for Khadijah.

After hearing his account of the journey, she decided that he would make the best of the husbands, even though many of the most important nobles of the Quraish had already proposed to her and had been refused, and in due course she proposed to him. After the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, had given the proposed marriage his blessing, Muhammad and Khadijah were married. At the time of the marriage, the Prophet was twenty-five years old, while Khadijah was forty years old.

For the next fifteen years they lived happily together, and Khadijah bore several children. Their first child, a son whom they named Qasim, died when he was only two years old. Two more sons, called Tayyib and Tahir, were also born, but they too died in their infancy. However, Muhammad and Khadijah also had four daughters who survived: Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima.

No one except Allah of course, knows more about a man than his wife, both his good and his bad qualities, his strengths and his weaknesses.

The more Khadijah came to know about her husband, the more she loved and respected him. Everyone in Makka called him ‘al-Amin’, which means ‘the trustworthy one’, and she, more than anyone else, knew how fitting this name was. It became Muhammad’s custom each year to spend the month of Ramadan in seclusion and reflection in a cave on the mountain of Hira, which is on the outskirts of Makka. Khadijah would always make sure that he was provided with food and drink during his retreat. Towards the end of one Ramadan, when he was forty and Khadijah fifty-five, Muhammad suddenly appeared at their house in the middle of the night, trembling with fear and saying, “Cover me up, cover me up!”

Khadijah was very alarmed to see him in such a state. Quickly she wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and, when he had calmed down, she asked him to describe exactly what had happened. He told her how a being whom he had never seen before - in fact it was the angel Jibril had suddenly appeared to him while he was asleep and had said, “Read!”

“But I cannot read,” he had replied, for he was unlettered and could neither read or write. “Read!” the angel had repeated, clasping Muhammad close to his chest. “I cannot read,” he had repeated. “Read!” the angel had repeated, firmly embracing him yet again. “What shall I read?” he had asked in desperation, and the angel had replied: Read, in the Name of your Lord who created, created man from a clot, Read, and your Lord is the Most Gracious, Who taught with the pen, taught man what he did not know. (Quran 96:1-5) Although Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) did not fully realize it at the time, this was the beginning of the revelation of the Qur’an; but in that first encounter with the angel Jibril, Muhammad was very frightened, for he did not know who the angel Jibril was or what was happening. He woke up and ran out of the cave only to find Jibril still in front of him, and whenever he turned away from him, there Jibril was in front of him yet again, filling the horizon with his mighty yet beautiful form.

“Oh Muhammad,” said Jibril eventually, “you are the Messenger of Allah and I am Jibril,” and with these words he disappeared from Muhammad’s sight.

After the angel had disappeared Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had clambered down the mountain as fast as he could run, not knowing if he was going mad and imagining things, or if he had been possessed by one of the jinn.

As she listened to Muhammad’s words, Khadijah did not share any of these fears. She realized that something tremendous and awe-inspiring had happened to her husband, and she was certain, knowing him as she did, that he was neither mad nor possessed. “Do not worry,” she said, “for

by Him who has dominion over Khadijah’s soul, I hope that you are the Prophet of this nation. Allah would never humiliate you, for you are good to your relatives, you are true to your word, you help those who are in need, you support the weak, you feed the guest and you answer the call of those who are in distress.”

When Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as a little more relaxed, Khadijah took him to see her cousin, Waraqa ibn Nawfal, for he was a man of knowledge, and she was sure that he would be able to explain the meaning of what had just happened to her beloved husband. Waraqa had studied the books of both the Jews and the Christians very closely and he had learned a great deal from many of their wisest people. He knew that the coming of another Prophet had been foretold by both Moses and Jesus, peace be on them, anhe knew many of the signs that would confirm the identity of this Prophet when he appeared.

After listening closely to his story, Waraqa, who was both old and blind, exclaimed, “This is the same being who brought the revelations of Allah to Moses. I wish I was young and could be alive whyour people will drive you out.”

“Will they drive me out?” asked Muhammad.

“Yes,” replied Waraqa. “No one has come with what you have been given without being treated with enmity; and if I were to live until the day when you are turned out, then I would support you with all my might. Let

WOMEN IN ISLAM

me just feel your back.” So, saying, Waraqa felt between the Prophet’s shoulder-blades and found what he was feeling for: a small round, slightly raised irregularity in the skin, about the size of a pigeon’s egg. This was yet another of the many signs that Waraqa already knew would indicate the identity of the next Prophet after Jesus, (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).

“This is the Seal of the Prophethood!” he exclaimed. “Now I am certain that you are indeed the Prophet whose coming was foretold in the Torah that was revealed to Moses and in the Injil that was revealed to Jesus, (pbut) You are indeed the Messenger of Allah, and the being who appeared to you on the mountain was indeed the angel Jibril!”

Khadijah as both overjoyed and awed to find that her understanding of what had happened on the mountain had been confirmed. Not long after this incident, Muhammad was commanded in a subsequent revelation from Allah, through the angel Jibril, to call people to worship Allah only, and it was at this point that Khadijah did not hesitate in expressing in public what she had now known for certain in secret for some time: “ I bear witness that there is no god except Allah,” she said, “and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

In the years that followed, difficult years in which the leaders of the Quraish did everything in their power to stop the Prophet spreading his message, Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) was a constant source of help and comfort to Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the difficulties which he had to face. All her wealth was spent in the way of Allah, helping to spread the message of her husband, helping to free slaves who had embraced Islam, and helping to feed and shelter the community of Muslims that slowly but surely began to grow in numbers and strength.

The Quraish were infuriated by the Prophet’s success and did everything in their power to discourage both him and his followers, often inflicting awful tortures on them, but without success. The situation became so bad that the Prophet told some of his followers to go to Abyssinia, where their ruler, the Negus, who was a sincere Christian gave them shelter and protection. Eventually there came a time when, as Waraqa had foretold, Muhammad and his followers -along with all the members of his tribe, the Banu Hashim were driven out of the city of Mecca and forced to camp out in a small ravine in the mountains nearby. This happened long after Waraqa had died, and about seven years after that extraordinary night of power in which Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had received the first revelation of Quran through the angel Jibril. There, while their homes lay empty in Mecca, the Muslims were exposed to the bitterly cold nights of winter and the fiery hot days of summer, with very little food and shelter. No one would buy and sell with the Muslims, or allow their sons and daughters to marry any of them. Fortunately those who secretly sympathized with the Muslims would send what food they could to them whenever the chance arose, sometimes by loading provisions onto a camel or a horse and then sending it off at a gallop in the direction of the camp, hoping that the animal would not stop or get lost before it reached its intended destination. For three years the small Muslim community lived a life of hardship and deprivation, but although they suffered from hunger and thirst, and from exposure to heat and cold, this was a time in which the hearts of the first Muslims were both purified and also filled with the light of knowledge and wisdom. The Muslims knew that they were following the truth, and so nothing else mattered. They did not care what the Quraish did to them or said about them. Allah and His Messenger were enough for them!

It was during this period that the Muslims who had sought shelter in

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Abyssinia returned, only to find the situation even worse than when they had left it. Not long after, many of them returned to Abyssinia, their numbers swelled by those whom the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had told to accompany them. Finally the boycott was lifted and the Muslims were allowed to re enter the city; but the three years of hardship had taken their toll. First of all the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, who was by then more than eighty years old, died; and then a few months later, during the month of Ramadan, Khadijah also died, at the age of sixty-five, may Allah be pleased with her. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mourned her deeply. They had shared twenty-five years of marriage together and she had given birth to five of his children. Only one of the Prophet’s future wives, Maria the Copt, would give him another child, Ibrahim, and he, like Qasim, was destined to die when he was still very young, at the age of eighteen months.

Khadijah had been the first to publicly accept Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as the Messenger of Allah, and she had never stopped doing all she could to help him. Love and mercy had grown between them, increasing in quality and depth as the years passed by, and not even death could take this love away. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) never stopped loving Khadijah, and although he married several more wives in later years and loved them all, it is clear that Khadijah always had a special place in his heart. Indeed whenever ‘Aisha, his third wife, heard the Prophet speak of Khadijah, or saw him sending food to Khadijah’s old friends and relatives, she could not help feeling jealous of her, because of the love that the Prophet still had for her.

Once Aisha asked him if Khadijah had been the only woman worthy of his love. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) replied: “She believed in me when no one else did; she accepted Islam when people rejected me; and she helped and comforted me when there was no one else to lend me a helping hand.” It had been related by Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that on one occasion, when Khadijah was still alive, Jibril came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, Khadijah is just coming with a bowl of soup (or food or drink) for you. When she comes to you, give her greetings of peace from her Lord and from me, and give her the good news of a palace of jewels in the Garden, where there will be neither any noise nor any tiredness.” After the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, and his first wife, Khadijah, had both died in the same year, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his small community of believers endured a time of great hardship and persecution at the hands of the Quraish. Indeed the Prophet, who was now fifty years old, name this year ‘the Year of Sorrow.’ In private his dearest wife was no longer present to share his life; and in public the insults that he received from the Quraish multiplied, now that he had no longer had the protection of his dead uncle.

Even when he journeyed to Ta’if, a small city up in the mountains outside Mecca, to call its people to worship Allah, he was rejected and stoned by them. It has been related by Aisha that on his way back to Mecca, Jibril appeared to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said, “Allah, may He be exalted and glorified, has heard what the people have said to you and how they have responded to your invitation, and he has sent the angel in charge of the mountains so that you can tell him what you want him to with them.” Then the angel in charge of the mountains called out to him and greeted him and said, “O Muhammad, Allah has listened to what your people have said to you. I am the angel in charge of the mountains, and your Lord has sent me so that you can order me to do whatever you want. If you wish, I can bring the mountain of the outskirts of Mecca together so that they are crushed between them.” But the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to him, “Rather I hope that Allah will make their descendants a people who will worship Allah alone, without ascribing any partners to him.”

It was a while after this that tfollowing Surah was revealed: In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate By the morning hours, and by the night when it is stillest, Your Lord has not forsake you nor does He hate you, And truly what comes after will be better for you than what has come before, And truly your Lord will give to you so that you will be content. Did he not find you an orphan and protect you? Did he not find you wandering and guide you? Did he not find you destitute and enrich you? So do not oppress the orphan, And do not drive the beggar away, And speak about the blessings of Your Lord. (Quran 93:1-11) And so it happened. After three years of constant struggle, a relative of his, called Khawla, went to him and pointed out that his house was sadly neglected and that his daughters needed a mother to look after them. “But who can take the place of Khadijah?” he asked. “Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, the dearest of people to you,” she answered. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) had been the first man to accept Islam and he was the Prophet’s closest companion. Like Khadijah, he had done all that he could do to help the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and had spent all his wealth in the way of Allah. However, while the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was now fifty-three years old, Aisha as only a little girl of seven. She was hardly in a position to look after either the Prophet’s household or children.

“She is very young.” Replied the Prophet. Khawla had a solution for everything. She suggested that he marry at the same time a lady called Sawda, the widow of Al-Sakran ibn ‘Amr.

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