Islam here ramadan 2016 by Nabeel Abdalhaqq Nayak

TERRORISM AS A PRETEXT TO INTERVENTION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

PARIS PEACE GAMBIT

WHAT IS QUR’AN?

DIABETES & RAMADAN

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midst the unfolding crisis in the world, especially with regard to The Muslims, it is important not to miss the very profound change that took place in the Suadi Kingdom on the death of the late King Abdallah. CLAN ASABIYYA The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 by Abdal-Aziz Ibn Saud who united the four regions

into a single state through a series of conquests beginning in 1902 with the capture of Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family. Saudi Arabia has since been an absolute monarchy, effectively a hereditary dictatorship governed along Islamic lines. As part of this process of expansion, Abdal-Aziz married women from powerful Nejdi and other Arabian families to cement his control over all parts of his new domain. It is believed he married as

many as 22 women as a result. One of these marriages was to Hussa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi, a member of the Al Sudairis, a powerful clan in Nejd, where the Wahhabi ideology emerged nearly 300 years ago. Hussa Al Sudairi, was from a very influential family, and also shared the same clan identity as AbdalAziz’s own mother. Hussa was the most favourite of all the wives in that she had produced the most amount of sons. The Sudairi Seven as they became known; namely: Fahd; Sultan; Abdul Rahman; Nayef; Turki; Salman & Ahmad. In addition to being the mother of seven sons, Hassa bint Ahmed

had personal characteristics that made her the most valued spouse of King Abdulaziz. Firstly, she was very beautiful and had charm and a strong personality. She was also influential, and attempted to instill a sense of group feeling among her sons. She raised all of her children in a political atmosphere and urged them to hang together. In addition, she had effects on some decisions of King Abdulaziz. For instance, she urged him to make Prince Fahd a member of his advisory board, and Prince Fahd became a member of the board. Hassa bint Ahmed used to organize daily dinner gatherings at her home for her sons and their

families. She supported the idea of unity and Asabiyya through these dinner gatherings. After her death her daughters are said to have continued her tradition of the weekly dinner gatherings. She was a demanding person in that she wanted to be visited daily by her sons when they were in Riyadh. She was also known for emphasizing discipline and a driving work ethic in her sons. With an estimated 37 sons. The “Sudairi Seven” were the largest bloc of full brothers and as a consequence, were able to wield a degree of coordinated influence and power. Continued on Pg. 4

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EDITORS NOTE

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even too loudly between sunrise and sunset. Then he commanded that he say to the one who curses him or fights with him, “I am fasting,” i.e. I am leaving this action which you are doing, fighter or curser, to me. By the command of his Lord, he disconnects himself from this action. There truly is nothing like it. What could it possibly be comparable to? I look at the non-Muslims and wonder, what does this month mean to them? Do they feel any differently during this month in the same way that we do? Perhaps even just a slight shift from normality in their existential experience that makes them question, “What is all this?” “What is happening?” “What is this subtle feeling of serenity just shortly after sunset?” Even when someone eats in-front of you whilst your fasting, your mind wonders, just how much of what fasting is has dawned upon them? I wonder have they ever known what it is to deny their basest desires? They cannot know it because it is outside their realm of personal experience. So the meaning is not the same for them. For us the meaning of Ramadan is an experiential knowledge. We know what a date tastes like because we have tasted one and are also in the same instance unable to describe the taste to someone who has not tasted it. It will not have the same meaning as it is outside of that person’s experience. Why are we asking these questions? Because thanks to a month such as Ramadan where uninhibited clarity is in abundance, It places the matter back with ourselves. It is YOU, and what ALL of this, means to YOU. If I told you that tomorrow night, the very heavens would be lowered to hear your inner most desires and to free you from fear, What does that mean to you? If I told you that you have been given a gift that is so immense that it is impossible to deserve. What would it mean to you? What if I told you that to lose out on any of the good that is intended for you, is forbidden for you, even though you might have intended wrong and restrained yourself. What would that mean to you? And what would it mean to you if you were given a time, in which you could rewrite the wrong you have done and do enough good till fill an entire lifetime with a single night of worship. If meaning escapes us, what will convey it to us then? Nabeel Abdalhaqq

REFLECTIONS Ramadan Kareem to you and your family. Sitting in the thick of the day, my thoughts and senses amplified by the abstention of things that in any normal circumstance would be permitted, I find my self thrust into the reflection of what things mean to me. How quickly my mind sways and emotions swing without the slightest push. It becomes very clear that the whole matter is about me. Just what does this/that/she/he mean to me. If I am to have any success in dealing with myself during Ramadan, I must hold sincerely to each glimmer of inward reflection with the corresponding behaviour. Truly, the uniqueness of this month, the month of Qur’an, is unparalleled. It is the special attribute of the month itself, when coupled with the conditions of fasting, that spring forth a deep analysis of the self and the world in which you live. The Prophet, salallahualyhi wasalam said, “man ‘arafa nafsahu faqad ‘arafa Rabbahu” He who knows himself, knows his Lord. Shaykh Ibn Ata’illah Iskandri, Rahimullah, explains it further for us: “Through reasoning, witnessing and disciplining of the beastly lower self and its various evil and blaming characteristics are the beginning of progressing one’s behaviour to experience the path of Tawheed (the oneness of Allah) and to establish Taqwa (fear of Allah) and the remembrance of Allah that will lead to a contented heart and self which will realize ultimately closeness to Allah” Unlike any of the acts of worship, Allah singles out fasting as being the one that is for Him. It enjoys a special status and those who do it enjoy a special station with their Lord not granted to any other, and are granted access to Him and His everlasting reward through doors not opened to anyone else. Allah elevated it by negating that it is like any other act of worship. He negated its ownership to His servants although they worship Him by it and ascribed the fast to Himself. This is because in reality, fasting is non-action. You are not told to do anything, you are being told to abstain. To not partake from Food, drink, intercourse, lying, fighting, and speaking obscenely, or

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The first was the Iranian Islamic Revolution. It was feared that the country’s Shi’ite minority in the Eastern Province (which is also the location of the oil fields) might rebel under the influence of their Iranian co-religionists. There were several antigovernment uprisings in the region such as the 1979 Qatif Uprising.

THE CROWN PRINCE

SPECIAL REPORT ON DEPUTY CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED IBN SALMAN

he influence of the Sudairi Seven, which can be called asabiyya (group spirit) following the khaldunian terminology, grew constantly after the accession of its leader, Prince Fahd, to crown prince in 1975 and then king in 1982. They represented one out of five of King Abdulaziz’s sons. However, they gained influence and power not solely because of their number. Unlike many of King Abdulaziz’s other sons who dealt more with business activities, the Sudairi Seven tended to be interested in politics. The Sudairi Seven’s rise to power can be traced back to the accession of King Faisal and his earlier struggle with King Saud. Although not a Sudairi himself, Prince Faisal, in his struggle to overthrow Saud, relied heavily upon the seven Sudairi brothers. In 1962, as prime minister and heir apparent, Prince Faisal appointed Prince Fahd as Interior Minister, Prince Sultan as Defence Minister, and Prince Salman as governor of Riyadh. All were key posts. Following Prince Faisal’s accession to the throne after King Saud’s deposition in 1964, the King Faisal continued to favour the Sudairi Seven as his allies. PRINCE MOHAMMED IBN SALMAN With the death of Abdallah, the throne passed for the last time in the line of brotherhood, the sons of Abdul-Aziz. It was the end of an epoch and the beginning of a new one. With the death of the old King, the new King immediately began to consolidate power on behalf of the clan. His son became both minister of defence and secretary general of the Court, combining two of the most powerful offices in the government, and his full nephew Mohammed bin Nayef bypassed hundreds of senior princes to become the first of the third generation to be officially placed in the line of succession. His son is Deputy crown prince and second in line to

the throne. When Mohammed bin Salman was just 12 he began sitting in on meetings led by his father Salman, the then governor of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Province. Some 17 years later, at 29 and already the world’s youngest defence minister, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is dangerously jousting with its regional foe Iran with a war in the Yemen, ambitious to become the Middle East’s most powerful leader. Prince Mohammed was still in his early teens when he began trading in shares and property. And when he ran into a scrape or two, his father was able to take care of things. Unlike his older half-brothers, Prince Mohammed, did not go abroad to university, choosing to remain in Riyadh where he attended King Saud University, graduating in law. Associates considered him an earnest young man who neither smoked nor drank and had no interest in partying. In 2011, his father became deputy Crown Prince and secured the prized Ministry of Defence, with its vast budget and lucrative weapons contracts. Prince Mohammed, as a private adviser, ran the royal court with a decisive hand after his father was named Crown Prince in 2012. Every step of the way, Prince Mohammed has been with his father , who took his favoured son with him as he rose in the hierarchy of the House of Saud. Within the Saudi religious and business elite it was well understood that if you wanted to see the father you had to go through the son. Critics claim he has amassed a vast fortune, but it is power, not money, that drives the prince. When Salman ascended the Saudi throne in January 2015, he was already ailing and relying heavily on his son. Aged 79, the King is reported to be suffering from dementia and able to concentrate for only a few hours in a day. As his father’s gatekeeper,

Prince Mohammed is the real power in the kingdom. That power was dramatically increased in the first few months of Salman’s rule. Prince Mohammed was appointed Defence Minister; put in charge of Aramco, the national energy company; made the head of a powerful new body, the Council for Economic and Development Affairs with oversight over every ministry; and put in charge of the kingdom’s public investment fund. He was named deputy Crown Prince but ensured ascendancy over his rival Mohammed bin Nayef, the Crown Prince and Interior Minister, by absorbing the latter’s royal court into that of the King’s.

mpatient with bureaucracy, Prince Mohammed has been quick to make his mark by demanding that ministries define and deliver key performance indicators on a monthly basis, unheard of in a sclerotic economic system defined by patronage, crony capitalism and corruption. His sudden early morning visits to ministries demanding to see the books is rapidly becoming the stuff of legend, startling sleepy Riyadh into action and capturing the admiration of young Saudis as a fellow youth. “He is very popular with the youth. He works hard, he has a plan for economic reform and he is open to them. He understands them,” enthused one businessman. That counts, because 70 per cent of the Saudi population is under 30 and youth unemployment is running high, with some estimates putting it at between 20 and 25 per cent. FOREIGN POLICY By 1976, Saudi Arabia had become the largest oil producer in the world. Khalid’s reign saw economic and social development progress at an extremely rapid rate, transforming the infrastructure and educational system of the country; in foreign policy, close ties with the US were developed. In 1979, two events occurred which greatly concerned the government, and had a long-term influence on Saudi foreign and domestic policy.

The second event was the Grand Mosque Seizure in Mecca by Islamist extremists. The militants involved were in part angered by what they considered to be the corruption and un-Islamic nature of the Saudi government. The government regained control of the mosque after 10 days and those captured were executed. Part of the response of the royal family was to enforce a much stricter observance of traditional religious and social norms in the country (for example, the closure of cinemas) and to give the Ulama a greater role in government. The Prince is seeing things through new eyes, but has found himself ready to take on the countries religious and geopolitical struggles full on. Backed by a new foreign secretary, speaking perfect English, and thinking with a quite new ideology, the following things happened: •The foreign secretary announced he was ready to put soldiers on the ground to fight what we would call the khawarij. ISIS •The ‘prayer police’, the terror of the malls, had their right to arrest removed. •There then followed the announcement that the Saudis were going to ‘diversify’ their economy. The same zeal with which he is pursuing economic reforms has also led Saudi Arabia into a war in neighbouring Yemen. Last March, he launched an aerial campaign against rebel Houthi forces that had run the Saudi-installed President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi out of the country. Decades of Saudi caution were thrown to the wind as Prince Mohammed presided over Operation Decisive Storm. The young, ambitious son of an aged king leading a war against a rebellion in a troubled southern neighbour. That the rebellion was supported by Iran made the adventure even more attractive. The Saudi military was bristling with new weapons – billions of dollars’ worth. Prince Mohammed had a powerful older rival in the Interior Minister and wanted to prove his mettle both to his rival and his own supporters. The plan was to win a quick, decisive victory to confirm his stature as a military leader, placing him in the same league as his grandfather Ibn Saud, the great warrior king and founder of modern Saudi Arabia. But it was not to be. Thus far Operation Decisive Storm has dragged on for close to a year, causing infinite misery to the people of Yemen. In intense aerial bombardments, much of the country’s infrastructure has been destroyed while the Houthis remain defiantly in control of the capital Sanaa and most of the north. In the south, AQAP has had an open field. Undeterred, Prince Mohammed has vowed to carry on, determined to bomb the Houthis to the negotiating table. “He is quite belligerent,” says Jason Tuvey, a Middle East economist at Capital Economics. But Tuvey, like many other analysts, has been impressed by Prince Mohammed’s grasp of the often maddeningly complex problems that bedevil the kingdom’s economy. “On the economic front he has done very well. He has shifted policy and he should be commended for that,” Tuvey says. His impetuous nature emerged again over the growing struggle with Iran for regional hegemony. When Prince Mohammed announced the formation of a council of 34 Muslim nations in midDecember to combat terrorism, he clearly had Iran in mind. Continued Pg. 5

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he Iranians have strongly backed the beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, both directly and through Hezbollah, a militia trained and armed over the years by Iran. The Saudis are determined to see Assad defeated before any Syrian peace talks commence. Now, with the Saudis executing the senior Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a tit-for-tat battle is escalating. The Iranians allowed

HEALTH

the sacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and the Saudis together with other Gulf Cooperation council (GCC) states withdrew their ambassadors in retaliation. In a widely circulated letter last summer, enemies within the ruling family decried the arrogance of the young prince, even going so far as to call for his ousting along with his father and Mohammed bin Nayef. But those calls have led nowhere and The prince continues to ride

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a crest of popular support in Saudi Arabia. The question remains, though, how far his willing to go in the conflict with Iran. It is not outside the realm of possibility that this brilliant, brash young man casting himself in his grandfather’s mould as a Sunni warrior may be weighing up the options, may be thinking of a military strike against Shia Iran – a frightening thought in a region already riven by war. What we have to realise is that

this is a new order in Arabia. It must also be appreciated that we depend on this regime for the perfect and the impeccable organising of the Hajj. The Crown Prince’s youthful disposition has familiarised himself among the youth of the Kingdom connecting him to its future WRITTEN FOR ISLAM HERE

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The Paris Peace Gambit: 25 years of Ratings Approvals, Buying Time & Making Money

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French President Francois Hollande’s approval ratings are at an all-time low. As of March, he broke his own record of low approval, sinking to 17 percent. (In October of last year it stood at 18 percent). His country is embattled by violence, massive strikes, terrible foreign policy decisions that resulted in French military involvement in Libya, Mali and Syria. Leading world leaders in another peace gambit that is helping distract from the US failure on that front is a clever political calculation from the French perspective. It might even help Hollande appear stately and in charge. The Israelis rejected the initiative right away, without even bothering with a public diplomacy campaign to defend their position, as they often do. Dora Gold, director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, repeated on the eve of the conference what Netanyahu and others have parroted for weeks. The conference will “completely fail”, she said, calling on Abbas to engage in direct talks with no prior conditions instead. The nonchalant Israeli position can be partly explained in Tel Aviv’s trust in the French government, the very government that is taking the lead in the fight against the proPalestine Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement(BDS). “On more than one occasion, French positions and actions on this subject have been more reassuring from an Israeli point of view than those of our American ally,” wrote Lerman. “For example, France served as the hardline anchor of the P5+1 [in the Iran nuclear talks]. It was France that raised questions about reliability and implementation (even as it was French business interests that were among the first to bang on Tehran’s doors).”

n their defence, the Israelis seem to have figured out the whole thing and opted out. But the hapless Palestinian leadership, along with their Arab League partners, joined by the French, EU and UN representatives, and even US Secretary of State, John Kerry, decided to play along. However, the French peace initiative-turnedconference in Paris on June 3 is nothing but a charade, and they all know it, Palestinians included. So, why the colossal waste of time? If you have been following the Middle East ‘peace process’ business in the last quarter of a century, you are certainly aware that the ‘negotiations table’ is nothing but a metaphor for buying time and obtaining political capital. The Israelis want time to finalize their colonial projects in building up illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land; and the Palestinian leadership uses the ‘talks’ to acquire political validations from the socalled ‘peace-brokers’, namely the United States. The US, in turn, uses the futile ‘negotiations’ to further assert itself as the caretaker of the Middle East, overthrowing regimes while simultaneously brokering peace. Meanwhile, every other relevant political entity is included or excluded based on its own worth to, or relationship with, the United States. Thus, the honour of invitation is bestowed upon ‘friendly regimes’. Others, namely, ‘enemies of peace’ are rejected for their failure to accommodate or adhere to US foreign policies in the region.

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The ‘peace process’ meant money, and plenty of it; billions of dollars invested in the Palestinian Authority

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While the ‘peace process’ has failed to deliver neither peace to the region nor justice to the Palestinians, the ‘peace process’ industry has been an unenviable success, at least until 2014 when Kerry and the US administration decided to tend to more urgent regional affairs, for example, the war on Syria. By then, Israel’s right wing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was too empowered by the anti-peace sentiment in his own society to even partake in the charade. There was little capital for him to be seen with aging Mahmoud Abbas, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. His right wing constituency, which dominates Israeli society, could not have cared less. They were – and are – still busy confiscating Palestinian land, issuing more racist laws in the Knesset and fighting dissent among their own ranks. Prior to that date, and since the very first peace conference in Madrid in 1991, the ‘peace process’ has splendidly paid dividends. The Israelis were finally accepted as a ‘peace partner’ and Israel slowly made its way from the margins of the Middle East to the centre, without having to concede an inch. Even Saeb Erekat, the Chief Palestinian Negotiator, has no qualms with this assertion. “In fact, the number of Israeli settlers transferred into Occupied Palestine has nearly quadrupled since the beginning of

the ‘peace process,’” he recently wrote in the Israeli daily Haaretz; “yet Israel continues to enjoy impunity and is not held accountable.” Considering his ‘chief ’ position in the travesty, why did Erekat agree to help maintain the misapprehension of peace considering the price that was paid in lost land, time and lives? Well, because the Palestinian leadership itself was at the forefront of raking in the benefits of the spurious peace. The ‘peace process’ meant money, and plenty of it; billions of dollars invested in the Palestinian Authority – feeding a dead-end political system that existed with no real authority, and almost always remained on the sidelines as Israel used extreme violence to sustain its colonial enterprise in the West Bank and Occupied Jerusalem.

he PA even stayed aside as Israel battled the Resistance in Gaza, killing thousands of civilians and besieging an already highly-populated and economically-devastated region. Alas, in the last ten years, it seems that Palestinian leadership and factions invested more energy to nurse their own internal strife than to confront the Israeli Occupation. The French government has its own reasons for taking the lead on reviving the dormant peace talks and, no, those reasons have nothing to do with French desire to create a more equitable platform for talks, as Palestinian officials conveniently allege. Writing in Israel’s Arutz Sheva, Eran Lerman explained the French endeavour in more practical terms. “Broad regional security considerations” are driving the French diplomatic initiatives, he contented. In fact, the logic behind this is discernible.

The conceited Israeli response to the French conference was paralleled with euphoria among the embattled Palestinian leadership. That, too, is understandable. The PA subsists on this sort of international attention, and since the last major meeting between Abbas and the former, now jailed Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, in 2008, Abbas is left on his own, disowned by the Americans and neglected by Arab governments. “The French Initiative is the flicker of hope Palestine has been waiting for,”wrote Erekat. “We are confident that it will provide a clear framework with defined parameters for the resumption of negotiations.” Even if – and when – the long-awaited ‘resumption of negotiations’ arrive, nothing good is likely to come out from it, except for political dividends for those who have participated in the 25-year gambit: buying time and acquiring more funds. There is nothing to celebrate about this

Dr. Ramzy Baroud

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IN SEARCH OF TRUE LEADERSHIP

PART TWO

PART TWO IN A FOUR PART RESEARCH INTO THE RULE OF MU’AWIYA, RADI’ALLAHU ANHU, AND WHY HE WAS SO SUCCESSFUL. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY IS NOT FOR A ROMANTIC LOOK AT HISTORY, NOR IS IT TO ENGAGE WITH THE MODEL OF GOVERNMENT, OF WHICH WE AS A COMMUNITY IN BOTH CHARACTER AND STRUCTURE ARE FAR REMOVED, BUT TO LOOK AT THE GREAT MAN HIMSELF. TO BE REMINDED NOT OF WHAT ONCE WAS, BUT THE PARTICULAR CHARACTER DESPERATELY NEEDED IN OUR LEADERSHIP OF TODAY.

he role of Mu’awiya is interesting in modern terms because the rule of Mu’awiya and his immediate successors involves bringing disparate elements into a single unity - as there were really three power bases for a time: Syria and the Umayyads, Iraq where ‘Ali based himself, and the Hijaz as represented by Ibn az-Zubayr. How did Mu’awiya manage to bring about a unity and prevent the fragmentation of the Umma into three states? Eventually the single unit broke up again under the Abbasids, and never again were the Muslims a single entity. During Mu’awiya’s rule, he had no rivals, a situation which was never to prevail again. Even the Ottomans, the most successful in later times, did not encompass the entire community of Muslims. The fitna itself was partially a reaction to the centralisation of power. As the provinces manifested a tendency towards autonomy, ‘Uthman tried to counter this by appointing people who were loyal to him - who happened to be mostly from his family. Perhaps if ‘Uthman had been of a less mild disposition, he might have succeeded. Of course, this raises the question: is it inevitable that such a large political unit will break up into smaller autonomous or semi-autonomous unit? Are ‘nations’ inevitable? Can this only be countered by an imperial form - which is not the original form of governance? What happens when the centre will not hold? Looking at the course followed by Mu’awiya to re-establish the centre, once peace was established, Mu’awiya reconciled many of the Muslims who had been fighting each other by his generosity and fairness, not to mention the intrinsic power of his position, and resumed the conquests of Islam which had been interrupted by the fighting. Even the most stubborn of opponents would often melt under his generosity and diplomacy. He also managed through fine diplomacy to balance out the tribal rivalries which later destroyed Umayyad rule. The importance of jihad cannot be understated because without the external struggle against the unbelievers, almost without fail the struggle for power

becomes internal. We have an example of Mu’awiya’s astuteness when he visited ‘A’isha, the daughter of the murdered ‘Uthman, who was lamenting and crying for her father. He said, “Cousin, our subjects have sworn to obey us. In return, we promised to pardon them. If our act of clemency is tarnished by the memory of the past, their submission is also not free of regret. Each, with his hand on his sword, searched the eyes of his comrades. If we were to now break our commitments, we would push them into being disloyal to us. That would open a spate of new difficulties whose end result cannot be foreseen. “ When his friends expressed surprise at the vastness of his gifts to his opponents, he said, “a war costs infinitely more.” He said that he preferred to buy men than to cut off their heads, and he took the example of the Prophet, and the Book of Allah in this. This amounts to the Qur’anic category of ta’lif alqulub, reconciling hearts (see Qur’an 9:60). This is gaining hearts rather than closing mouths, and it was a technique which was quite effective with the unruly Bedouins. Mu’awiya asked ‘Amr b. al-’As, “How great is your cunning?” He replied, “I have never entered into anything but that I got out of it.” Mu’awiya said, “And I have never entered into anything that I wanted to get out of!”

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When his friends expressed surprise at the vastness of his gifts to his opponents, he said, “a war costs

infinitely more.

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u’awiya was famous for both for his self-possession or hilm and for his political finesse, his daha’. To have daha’ means to be a good orator, to have firm resolution in matters, a fertile imagination, an ability to foresee future turns of events, and an ability to manoeuvre people. Mu’awiya had the ability to single out enemies and turn them into allies. Ibn az-Zubayr said of him, “Truly the son of Hind deployed a dexterity and mental resourcefulness as one will never see after him. When we tried to impose something on him, an irritated lion with claws unsheathed would not show more audacity than him. He knew when to give into us, to even allow himself to be tricked when we tried to do that to him. He was the most artful of men, more crafty than a thief. I wished that we would never lose him, just as a rock remains on this summit,” pointing to the mountain of Abu Qubays outside Makka. As regards his hilm, or his forbearance, the quality of resorting to force only when absolutely necessary, Mu’awiya is known for his famous saying, “I do not apply my sword where my lash suffices, nor my lash where my

tongue is enough. And even if there be one hair binding me to my fellow men, I do not let it break. When they pull, I loosen, and if they loosen, I pull.” Mu’awiya was welcoming to his subjects at every hour of the day, including mealtimes. He created the first postal system and put it at the disposition of his subjects to use. He was known for his impartiality and justice, even where his family was concerned. He did not make ‘Uthman’s mistake of putting his relatives into the limelight to the exclusion of others. He would often give judgement against the Umayyads in favour of the Hashimites, especially if it involved Hasan ibn ‘Ali whom he was always eager to honour. He would have an incorrect punishment publicly rescinded on the minbar, no matter who had issued it. One thing that is clear in Mu’awiya is his reliance on shura and openness to his subjects with some modifications because of the situation in Syria. Az-Zuhri said, “Mu’awiya acted for two years (in Syria) as ‘Umar had acted without altering it.” Mu’awiya himself said that he had done his best to follow the behaviour of Abu Bakr and ‘Uthman. But when he realised that the environment and

circumstances in Syria were different from those in Madina, and that the prevailing culture and people were different, he modified his style of governance accordingly. Mu’awiya himself used this excuse to ‘Umar when he came to Syria in 18 AH and Mu’awiya met him with a great retinue. ‘Umar disliked that, but Mu’awiya excused himself, saying, “We are in a land where there are many enemy spies. We must display the might of power in which the might of Islam and its people lie. We will frighten them by that.” ‘Umar was satisfied with that. This use of pomp does not mean that Mu’awiya indulged himself in luxury, taking advantage of the excuse that he was impressing the Byzantines with his wealth. Mu’awiya could be seen speaking to the people on the minbar of Damascus wearing a patched garment. Yunus ibn Maysar al-Himyari said, “I saw Mu’awiya riding in the Damascus market with his servant behind him. He was wearing a shirt with a patched pocket, going along in the Damascus markets.” Taken from a discourse by

Hajja Aisha Bewley

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TERRORISM AS PRETEXT ...continued on pg.16 FOR INTERVENTION IN MIDDLE EAST

n order to understand the hype surrounding the phenomena of Islamic radicalism and terrorism, we need to understand the prevailing global economic order and its prognosis. What the pragmatic economists have forecasted about the free market capitalism has turned out to be true; whether we like it or not. A kind of global economic entropy has set into motion. The money is flowing from the area of high monetary density to the area of low monetary density. The rise of the BRICS countries in the 21st century is the proof of this tendency. BRICS are growing economically because the labour in developing economies is cheap; labour laws and rights are virtually non existent; expenses on creating a safe and healthy work environment are minimal; regulatory framework is lax; expenses on environmental protection are negligible; taxes are low; and in the nutshell, windfalls for the multinational corporations are huge. Thus, BRICS are threatening the global economic monopoly of the Western capitalist bloc: that is, North America and Western Europe. Here we need to understand the difference between the manufacturing sector and the services sector. The manufacturing sector is the backbone of the economy; one cannot create a manufacturing base overnight. It is based on hard assets: we

After establishing the fact that the Western economy is mostly based on its financial services sector, we need to understand its implications. Like I said earlier, it takes time to build a manufacturing base, but it is relatively easy to build and dismantle an economy based on financial services. What if Tamim bin Hammad Al Thani (the ruler of Qatar) decides tomorrow to withdraw his shares from Barclays and put them in some Organization of Islamic Conferencesponsored bank, in accordance with Sharia? What if all the sheikhs of Gulf countries withdraw their petrodollars from the Western

they privatized their defence production industry. And as we know, that privatelyowned enterprises are more innovative, efficient and in this particular case, lethal. But having power is one thing, and using that power to achieve certain desirable goals is another. The Western liberal democracies are not autocracies; they are answerable to their electorates for their deeds and misdeeds. And much to the dismay of pragmatic, Machiavellian ruling elites, the ordinary citizens just can’t get over their antediluvian moral prejudices. In order to overcome

“

monopoly capitalism and global neo-colonial economic and political order are the real issues, while ... terrorism are the secondary issues and itself a byproduct of the former.

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Apart from that, the entire economy of the Western capitalist bloc is based on financial institutions: the behemoth investment banks, like JP Morgan Chase, total assets $2359 billion (market capitalization: 187 billion); Citigroup, total assets $1865 billion (Market Capitalization: 141 billion); Bank of America, total assets $2210 billion (Market Capitalization: 133 billion); Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and Axa Group (France), Deutsche Bank and Allianz Group (Germany), Barclays and HSBC (UK).

Fact of the matter is that monopoly capitalism and global neo-colonial economic and political order are the real issues, while Islamic radicalism and terrorism are the secondary issues and itself a by-product of the former. That’s how the mainstream media constructs artificial narratives and dupes its audience into believing them: during the Cold War it created “the Red Scare” and told its audience that communism is an existential threat to the free world and the Western way of life; the mainstream media’s naïve audience bought this narrative. Then the Western powers and their Saudi and Pakistani collaborators financed, trained, armed and internationally legitimized the Afghan “freedom fighters” and used them as proxies against the Soviet Union.

need raw materials; production equipment; transport and power infrastructure; and last but not the least, a technically-educated labour force. It takes decades to build and sustain a manufacturing base. But the services sector, like the Western financial institutions, can be built and dismantled in a relatively short period of time. If we take a cursory look at the economy of the Western capitalist bloc, it has still retained some of its high-tech manufacturing base, but it is losing fast to the cheaper and equally robust manufacturing base of the developing BRICS nations. Everything is made in China these days, except for hi-tech microprocessors, softwares, a few internet giants, some pharmaceutical products, the Big Oil and the all-important military hardware and the defence production industry.

Peaceful and democratic protests by the supposedly “moderate and secular” Libyans against the Gaddafi regime and the Western responsibility to protect the supposedly democratic revolutions and civilian lives. Once again it is only a coincidence that Libya holds 48 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and produces 1.6 million barrels per day of most easily extractable crude.

financial institutions? Can the fragile financial services-based Western economies sustain such a loss of investments? In April of this year the Saudi finance minister threatened that the Saudi kingdom would sell up to $750 billion in Treasury securities and other assets if Congress passed a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible for any role in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. And $750 billion is only the Saudi investment in the US. If we add its investment in Western Europe, and the investments of UAE, Kuwait and Qatar in the Western economies, the sum total would amount to trillions of dollars of Gulf ’s investment in the US and Western Europe. Notwithstanding, we need to look for comparative advantages and disadvantages here. If the vulnerable economy is their biggest weakness, what are the biggest strengths of the Western powers? The biggest strength of the Western capitalist bloc is its military might. We have to give credit to the Western hawks. They did which nobody else in the world had the courage to do: that is,

this ethical dilemma, the Western political establishments wanted a moral pretext to do what they wanted to do on pragmatic, economic grounds. That’s when 9/11 took place: a blessing in disguise for the Western political establishments because the pretext of “war on terror” gave them carte blanche powers to invade and occupy any oil-rich country in the Middle East and North Africa region.

o wonder then that the first casualty of “war on terror” after Afghanistan had been Iraq; and what did the corporate media tell us about invading Iraq back in 2003? Saddam’s weapons of mass “deception” and his purported links with al Qaeda. It is only a coincidence that Iraq holds 140 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and produces more than 3 million barrels per day of crude oil. Then again what did the Western mainstream media tell us about the Libyan so-called “humanitarian intervention” in 2011?

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union they declared the former “freedom fighters” to be terrorists and another existential threat to the free world and the Western way of life. The audience of the corporate media again bought this narrative. Then again, during the during the Libyan and Syrian civil wars [US and NATO Phoenixstyle covert invasion of Syria/Libya — DV Ed.] former “terrorists” once again became freedom fighters – albeit in a more nuanced manner, this time around the corporate media sells them as “moderate rebels.” How on earth could you label a militant holding a gun in his hands as “moderate and peaceful?” In order to sustain their crumbling “war on terror” narrative, the Western powers now make a distinction between “the green, yellow and red terrorists” – green militants, like the Free Syria Army, whom the NATO overtly supports; yellow jihadists, such as the Army of Conquest that includes the Saudisupported, hard-line Islamists like Ahrar al-Sham and the al-Qaeda-affiliate al-Nusra Front, whom the NATO covertly supports; and the red terrorists like the Islamic State which is a by-product of the hypocritical Western policy in Syria and Iraq...PG16

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THE ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWERS ACT:

INDIA’S ‘DISTUBED AREAS’ OF JAMMU & KASHMIR

housands of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, mass graves and recurrent incidents of violence brushed under the carpet away from plain sight. Under the power of the world’s largest democracy, an organized system of institutionalized violence has evolved, specifically in the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir. To enforce and legitimize this system of persecution and instrumental oppression, legislation such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is employed. AFSPA, one of the most dreaded words in a Kashmiri’s vocabulary, is not less then a curse on the population of the occupied territory. Conventionally applied in “disturbed areas” of the Indian federation, the provisions of the act empower their Army personnel to shoot and use force, even to the extent to kill anyone that they consider is acting in contravention with law and order. Further, it allows them to arrest any person on the basis of suspicion and to enter any building or stop and search any vehicle, all without any warrant. A provision of this law also requires all arrested people to be handed over to the nearest police station with a report on the circumstances of the arrest, but the more than 8,000 enforced disappearances in Kashmir from 1989 to 2009 speak volumes on the implementation of this provision. The Special Powers Act was extended to Kashmir in 1990, but it has been enforced in the North-eastern states declared “disturbed areas” for long before that. The entire Manipur state was declared “disturbed” in 1980. Several incidents of human rights violations have been documented in these areas marked with heavy militarization, to the extent that a Wikileaks cable to the US Consulate General in India remarked that “Manipur was less a state and more a colony of India.” The violations, including extrajudicial killings, custodial brutality and rapes in these territories, have resulted in various demonstrations including one in 2004 where a dozen naked women protested outside the Assam Rifles headquarters with signs daring the Indian Army to rape them. The world’s longest hunger striker, Irom Sharmila, the iron lady of Manipur, has refused food and drink since November 2000, protesting

against the draconian Special Powers Act. The Jeevan Reddy Commission of 2005 to review AFSPA was formed as a result of the severe protests on the custodial killing of Thangjam Manorama. The 147 page report stated that the act “has become a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high handedness.” The commission also called for the revocation of the act.

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The law is not only in contravention with basic human rights, but also against the essence of the Indian constitution

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In 2013, the Santosh Hedge Commission was formed, which took into consideration six sample cases of encounters. They found that none of these encounters were genuine and that “maximum force” had been employed to kill people. In the 100 page report the commission noted that: “Though the Act gives sweeping powers to security forces even to extend of killing a suspect with protection against prosecution, it does not provide any protection to the citizens against its possible misuse.” Further, it stated that the strictness of the accountability mechanism is supposed

to increase with the increase in the powers granted, but in this case the trend seems to be reversed.

nother committee in 2013, the Justice Verma Committee, recommended that personnel guilty of sexual offences in conflict territories should be tried under ordinary criminal law. This recommendation echoes the call of the activists from Kashmir who have repeatedly questioned the accountability mechanism of the armed forces, where hardly any relief is granted to the aggrieved. The committee also stated that: “Systematic or isolated sexual violence, in the process of Internal Security duties, is being legitimized by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which is in force in large parts of our country.” In a report by Amnesty International dated July 1st, 2015, which contained interviews with 58 family members of victims of alleged human rights violations by security forces, it was recommended to India to withdraw AFSPA from Kashmir, and to invite the UN Special Rapporteur and the UN Working Group on Disappearances to visit the territory with “unimpeded access” to the victims and witnesses. The report focused on section 7 of AFSPA, which grants special immunity to the security personnel. It also stated that the central government has refused to permit prosecution against members of the military

and paramilitary forces, and in the very small number of cases accepted, it has kept the decision pending for years. The armed forces deny the allegations, declaring 96% of the cases “false and baseless”. But evidence for finding the majority of these allegations false is not publicly available. The law is not only in contravention with basic human rights, but also against the essence of the Indian constitution which clearly provides for “equality before law” through its article 14, “protection of life and liberty” through article 21 and “protection against arrest and detention” through article 22. Further, this act has to be reviewed every six months which, according to a Supreme Court ruling in 2008, had not been done in the case of Jammu and Kashmir. From international human rights groups to activists inside India, voices are consistently being raised for the removal of this tyrannical piece of legislation and for the accountability of the armed forces. The debate is sparked every now and then with fresh incidents of human rights violations, but it is the unavoidable and humane responsibility of the international community to pressure the Indian government to strike down this act before more incidents of rapes, disappearances and killings with “legal protection” surface

Hasnat Sheikh

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R A M A D A N

I S L A M H E R E

R A M A D A N

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THE LORD OF ALL MONTHS

TAKING A LOOK AT THE REASON FOR THE SUPERIORITY OF RAMADAN OVER ALL OTHER MONTHS.

a slave and be forgiven his wrong actions. Moreover, he will receive the reward for the fast of the one he fed without diminishing that person’s reward in any way.” The first special thing the Messenger of Allah mentions with respect to this month is that it contains the Laylat al-Qadr, a night of such immense value that a whole sura of the Quran is dedicated to it. Allah says, the translation of which is, “Truly We sent it down on the Laytal alQadr. And what will convey to you what the Laylat al-Qadr is? The Laylat al-Qadr is better than a thousand months.” That is a thousand months of a believer, a thousand months of worshipping our Lord and obeying Him and His Prophet. A thousand months of good action stuffed into a single night. The moments of that night are immeasurably valuable and we would be fools not to take advantage. This night, according to the majority of ulama and people of tafsir, falls on one of the last ten nights of Ramadan, usually one of the odd nights, so we should be ready and make sure we get our portion of qiyaam al-layl - standing the night in prayer for that night by at the very least going to the tarawih. The Tarawih is a unique opportunity to hear the whole Quran recited, an opportunity that the majority of us almost never get outside of Ramadan.

“The lord of all the months is Ramadan and the lord of all the days is Jumu‘a.” What makes this month so special? What causes it to stand out and rise above all of the others? Is it because it is the month of fasting? Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Allah made it the month of fasting so that we might more fully take advantage of the blessed and exalted nature of it’s time. For there is no doubt that fasting has the capacity to alter our state and make us more receptive to the gifts our Lord has laid aside for us in the course of this immense month, gifts alluded to by the Messenger of Allah in the famous khutba he delivered in the final days of Sha’ban: “O people! A great and blessed month has come to you - a month in which there is a night which is better than a thousand months; A month in which Allah has made it obligatory to fast and in which he has made it recommended to stand in prayer during the night. Any voluntary good action that is done within it is like an obligatory action done outside of it, and any obligatory action done within it is equivalent to seventy obligatory actions done outside of it. It is the month of sabr and the reward for sabr is the Garden. It is the month of generous giving, and the month in which a believer’s provision is increased. Anyone who gives someone fasting that with which to break his fast, will receive the reward of freeing

There is little benefit in denying yourself what is normally lawful when you permit yourself what is normally unlawful. It defeats the whole purpose.

“

hen the Prophet mentions that this month increases us in sabr, the quality that enables to face down hardship and get the best of every situation, and in generosity, the quality that lies at the very heart of good character. The mu’min cannot help but finish the month with a better character than that which he started it. Every good quality is strengthened and increased while every bad one is weakened and diminished. That is part of our Lord’s favour to us, locking away those forces that negatively influenced us throughout the rest of the year and whispered to us to forget our Lord. The Prophet said, “When Ramadan comes, the Gates of the Garden are thrown open, the Gates of the Fire are slammed shut, and the Shaytans are chained up.” We are no longer rowing upstream, the current is firmly with us and propelling us forward towards our Lord. So we take full advantage. Give generously, forgive your brothers with whom you have grievances and re-establish ties. Allah says in His Mighty Book, “But as for him who feared the Station of his Lord and forbade the lower self its appetites, the Garden will be his refuge.”

The Prophet said, “If someone does not leave false testimony or false action, Allah will have no need of him giving up his food or drink,” And Jabir ibn Abdallah said, “When you fast, let your ears, eyes and tongue abstain/ fast from lying and any other wrong action. Do not harm your servants and remain serene and at peace. Do not let the day you fast be the same as days you do not fast.” And Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “Fasting is not just from food and drink, but also from lying, swearing, senseless prattle and engaging in anything that is false.” We ask Allah to give us the best of this month. We ask Him to protect all of our limbs from wrong action during the course of it, and increase us in sabr, generosity and all the good qualities of character that it magnifies and enhances. We ask Him to accept our fast and give us the strength and himma to stand in prayer and take advantage of its nights, especially the Laylat al-Qadr. And we ask Him to unlock for us the meanings of His Book and make it our constant Companion throughout the coming month and for the remainder of our lives inshallah Taken from a Khutba from

Shaykh Habib Bewley

“The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur‘an was sent down as guidance for mankind, with Clear Signs containing guidance and furqan (discrimination).” Those Clear Signs are even clearer in this month, and our own capacity to hear, taste and understand them much enhanced. Many of the barriers between our hearts and the meanings of the Words of Allah are weakened and removed, by making the Book of Allah your constant companion throughout its days and nights. The second thing the Messenger of Allah mentions in his khutba with respect to this month is that it is the month in which Allah has made it obligatory to fast. This is itself a great honour, for fasting is a very special form of worship in the eyes of Allah. Allah says in a hadith qudsi, “Every good action of the son of Adam is for him, except fasting which is for Me, and I will assign him a reward for it.” Of all the acts of worship, Allah singles out fasting as being the one that is for Him. It enjoys a special status and those who do it enjoy a special station with their Lord not granted to any other, and are granted access to Him and His everlasting reward through doors not opened to anyone else. The Messenger of Allah said, “There is a gate to the Garden called ar-Rayyan through which will only those who fast will be allowed to pass and no one else on the Day of Rising.”

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amadan is the fulcrum of our year and the month whose coming we eagerly anticipate from almost the very moment it finishes. It is without a doubt the prince of months. The Prophet, sallalahu alayhi wasalam, said,

This is why we do not neglect to recite Quran. Indeed, we must make every effort to complete a khatm of it by reciting at least a juz’ a day. Ramadan is the month of Quran, the month in which the Book of Allah was revealed in its entirety. Allah says, the translation of which is,

“

Allah made it the month of fasting so that we might more fully take advantage of the blessed and exalted nature of it’s time.

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LAYLATUL QADR

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AND WHAT WILL CONVEY IT TO YOU?

UNDERSTANDING THE IMMENSITY OF WHAT TOOK PLACE ON THE LAYLAT AL-QADR, AND WHAT CAME FROM THAT EVENT

he night of the Laylatul Qadr in Ramadan was the night that the Qur’an ascended into heart of our most noble Messenger, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, and revealed over the course of 23 years. Allah has made it the month of fasting so that we might more fully take advantage of the blessed and exalted nature of its time. Fasting has the capacity to alter our state and make us more receptive to the gifts our Lord has put aside for us in the course of this immense month. Many of the barriers between our hearts and the meanings of the Words of Allah are weakened and removed, so we make the Book of Allah our constant companion throughout its days and nights. The Gift allotted to us by the Messenger of Allah in the famous khutba he delivered in the final days of Sha’ban:

who seized him in a close embrace. A single word of command burst upon him: ‘Iqra’ ‘Read!’ He said: ‘I am not able to read!’ But the command was issued twice more, each with the same response from the Prophet. Finally, he was grasped with overwhelming force by the angel. Gabriel released him, and the first ‘recitation’ of the Quran was revealed to him: “Read in the name of your Lord who created -created man from a clot. Read: for your Lord is Most Bountiful, who teaches by the pen, teaches man that which he knew not.” (Quran 96:1-5)

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“O people! A great and blessed month has come to you a month in which there is a night which is better than a thousand months;” The first special thing the Messenger of Allah mentions with respect to this month is that it contains the Laylat al-Qadr, a night of such immense value that a whole sura of the Quran is dedicated to it. Allah says, “Truly We sent it down on the Laytal al-Qadr. And what will convey to you what the Laylat al-Qadr is? The Laylat al-Qadr is better than a thousand months.” At the age of 40 years old, the Prophet began to see pleasant dreams which in turn proved true. He also felt an increasing need for solitude, and this lead him to seek seclusion and meditation in the rocky hills which surrounded Makka. There he would retreat for days, taking provisions along with him, and would return to his family for more provisions. In the blaze of day and during the clear desert nights, when the stars seem sharp enough to penetrate the eye, his very substance was becoming saturated with the ‘signs’ in the heavens, so that he might serve as an entirely adequate instrument for a revelation already inherent in these ‘signs.’ It was then that he was undergoing a preparation for the enormous task which would be placed upon his shoulders, the task of prophet-hood and conveying the deen of Allah to his people and the rest of humanity. It came on a night late in the sacred month of Ramadan, the Laylat-ul-Qadr, the ‘Night of Decree. Prophet Muhammad was in solitude in the cave on Mount Hira. He was startled by the Angel of Revelation, Gabriel, the same who had come to Mary, the mother of Jesus,

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his very substance was becoming saturated with the ‘signs’ in the heavens, so that he might serve as an entirely adequate instrument for a revelation already inherent in these ‘signs.’

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hus began the magnificent story of Allah’s final revelation to humanity until the end of times. The encounter of an Arab, fourteen centuries ago, with a being from the realm of the Unseen was an event of such momentous significance that it would move whole peoples across the earth and affect the lives of hundreds of millions of men and women, building great cities and great civilizations, provoking the clash of mighty armies and raising from the dust beauty and splendour unknown previously. It would also bring teeming multitudes to the Gates of Paradise and, beyond, to the beatific vision. The word ‘IQRA’ , echoing around the valleys of the Hejaz, broke the mould in which the known world was casted; and our Messenger, alone among the rocks, took upon his shoulders a burden which would have crushed the mountains had it descended upon them. This night is so replete with light and Baraka that it is worth more than a thousand months, and that is not just any thousand months - a length of time equivalent to eighty-three years, but a thousand months of a believer, a thousand months of worshipping our Lord and obeying Him and His Prophet.

feared the Station of his Lord and forbade the lower self its appetites, the Garden will be his refuge.” May we realise the month of Ramadan for what it is and approach its days and nights with the same awe and reverence that you would the mosques, for they with respect to time what the Houses of Allah are with respect to place ISLAM HERE

Allah says in His Mighty Book, “But as for him who

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K N O W L E D G E

What is the Qur’an?

I S L A M H E R E

he month of Ramadan has a special relationship with the Book of Allah. As we know from Surat al-Baqara the Qur’an was first revealed during Ramadan and in it most of us devote more time than usual to its recitation both in Salat at-Tarawih and outside it. All Muslims are well aware of the supreme importance of the Qur’an. We know that it was the greatest miracle of the Messenger of Allah, salla’Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, the Guidance from Allah, which he was sent to transmit to us and which he implemented and demonstrated throughout the course of his life as a Prophet among his Companions in Makka and Madina. Firstly, along with our appreciation of the exquisite beauty of its language and the supreme eloquence of its means of expression, we must make sure we know the meaning of what it contains, what Allah has put in it for us, what He considers it necessary for us to know. Our ‘ulama have traditionally divided the contents of the Qur’an into three parts; these are not hard and fast divisions but indicate the three main themes. They have defined these as Tawhid,Qasas and Ahkam: in other words the Unity of Allah, narrative elements and legal judgements. Each of these divisions covers a wide area and none of them is mutually exclusive. And we must always bear in mind that Allah’s Book defies any attempt at precise analysis or exact definition of any sort.

TAWHID - ONENESS OF ALLAH The part dealing with tawhid first and foremost tells us what we can know about Allah Himself and includes such supreme passages as Surat al-Ikhlas, Ayat al-Kursi and of course, many other ayats which deal directly with the nature of the Divine Reality. They tell us all we need to know, indeed all we can know, about our Lord and Creator. Alongside these are the arguments for His existence with which Allah ta‘ala confronts those who do not believe in Him. Surat alAn‘am is full of these but they occur in many other places as well. However, the tawhid part of the Qur‘an extends far beyond these passages referring directly to the Divine Unity and also tells us about the nature of existence as a whole and of the universe we inhabit. We are told about the unseen realms of angelic power. We are told about the Last Day and the accounting process that takes place on it and are given detailed and graphic descriptions of the Garden and the

Fire. Physical sciences covered by the Book are physics, biology, astronomy, geology and meteorology; it goes into the plant world and the animal world, tells us in detail about the growth process, the weather cycle and many other matters we need to know about the world we live in and, most importantly, tells us in every case how all these things relate to and indicate their Lord and Creator, Allah tabaraka wa ta‘ala.

QASAS - NARRATIVE ELEMENTS The part dealing with qasas – the narrative aspects of the Qur’an – is limited in many people’s minds to the stories of ancient peoples and their Prophets, mentioned particularly in Surat al-A‘raf and Sura Hud but found right through the whole Qur’an from beginning to end. Very importantly also under this heading of qasas, the narrative aspects of the Qur’an, come the many passages dealing with what happened during the life of the Prophet and his Companions and the archetypical nature of those events is made clear to us. Allah squeezes out for us every drop of wisdom from the very texture of the events themselves so that the lessons they teach are as equally applicable and useful for our own lives today as they were then, to the extent that there is scarcely any state or predicament a human being can get into which is not prefigured and resolved in the text of the Qur’an. Finally and vitally it is in this part that Allah instructs us in those qualities of character which mark out the muminun and are indispensable for gaining His pleasure and tells us of those which characterise the kafirun and munafiqun.

AHKAM - LEGAL JUDGEMENTS The third division, comprising ahkam or legal judgements, is also much more extensive than it is often reckoned to be. It is not restricted to those ayats which lay down the specifics of the shari‘a of Islam concerning such matters as the pillars of the deen, the halal and haram, marriage and divorce, inheritance, property, commercial transactions, warfare, and criminal offences, although they, of course, form its core. It also includes such passages as those in Suras alAn‘am and Isra and the beginning of Surat al-Muminun and the end of Surat al-Furqan which give the outline of the deen alfitra, the behavioural patterning which formed the basis of all the previous Divine Revelations and which underlies the specifics of its final form in the Islamic shari‘a. And also within its compass are the many ayats addressed directly to the muminun containing all sorts of instructions and prohibitions which

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may not necessarily be legal injunctions but which nonetheless govern our behaviour to a considerable extent.

time in the words of the Qur’an and became accessible to all human beings from that time on.

This then has been a general run down of the classical formulation of the contents of Allah’s Book but it would be absurd to assert that it covers them completely. There is much more. Its contents are inexhaustible. It contains everything we need for our lives in this world and the Next. Allah says in it:

Something of the momentous nature of the event can be gleaned from what happened to the Prophet, salla’Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, when the Revelation came to him, and remember that he was created for it and prepared by Allah to receive it. We know that the first time it came he was twice crushed to the extent that he feared that he was on the point of death.

“We have not omitted anything from the Book.” (6:38)

We send down in the Qur’an that which is a healing and a mercy to the muminun, (17:82)

R A M A D A N

And Allah speaks the truth. We must not treat it as an ancient historical text; each ayat is as fresh and vibrant today as it was the day it was revealed. We can either keep it carefully on the shelf as revered printed pages in a bound book or we can recite it and study it and use it and take it on as Allah intended and the Messenger, salla’Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, showed us how to. The matter is in our hands. “If We Had sent down this Qur’an onto a mountain, you would have seen it humbled, crushed to pieces out of fear of Allah. We make such examples for people so that hopefully they will reflect.” (59:21)

THE EVENT OF QUR’AN What on earth is the Qur’an? What is this Book whose descent is so powerful that it would smash a mountain to bits? What happened that night in the cave of Hira when Allah’s Messenger, salla’Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, received the first revelation? Words were brought to the Prophet, salla’Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, by the Angel Jibril, ‘alayhi salam, directly from Allahtabaraka wa ta‘ala which took the form of Arabic letters and words and emerged as the sentence.

“

the Qur’an is something tremendous beyond what we can possibly know.

“

What we have to realise is that this cataclysmic event is from any rational standpoint completely impossible. Something directly from the Lord and Creator of the Universe who is beyond form and cannot be contained by any form entered into the form of letters and words which were etched into the heart of the Prophet Muhammad, salla’Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and then emerged on his tongue out into this world. In some way which is beyond our capacity to comprehend, something directly from Allah Himself descended into this world; the timeless came into time; the infinite somehow became finite in the words of the Qur’an. A famous classical definition expresses it thus: the Qur’an is the real word of Allah and is neither created nor originated in time; it is recited by our tongues, written in books and preserved in our breasts but does not dwell in them. This subject was a matter of passionate debate for many years during the early centuries of Islam. Ahmad ibn Hanbal, rahimahu’llah ta’ala, was beaten daily for months and months for following the path of the noble salaf and refusing to bow to the dictates of the rationalists and assert that the Qur’an was created. There can be no “how” about the exact nature of the Qur’an just as there can be no “how” about the nature of the Divine Essence. The point is that it happened. Divine Revelation directly from the presence of Allah, the Lord and Creator of all existence came into being and took form for the final

On other occasions it is reported that his weight increased dramatically at the time when ayats were being revealed and that he sweated profusely on even cold days. Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, radiya’Llahu ‘anhu, showed that he understood what was happening when he said when questioned about the Prophet’s Night Journey to Jerusalem: “If he says so it is true. He tells me that Revelation comes down to him in no time at all right from Heaven to earth during both day and night and that is a far greater matter than you are carping on about.”

O, the Qur’an is something tremendous beyond what we can possibly know. Every letter, every syllable, in it comes to us directly from the presence of Allah, the unknowable who is All-knowing, the formless who is Allencompassing, the Creator of the universe and of each one of us and all our actions. A taste of the awesome reality of Allah’s words in His Book was once brought home to me by a man of great knowledge in Morocco when I was living there shortly after I became Muslim. He asked me if I had read and understood the Qur’an. I said that I had an English translation and had done my best to match it up with the Arabic. He said to me, “No, I don’t mean that. Have you really understood the Qur’an.” “What do mean then by understand?” I asked. “If you were truly to understand even a single letter of the Qur’an,” he replied, “you would not eat or sleep for forty days because of the light that is in it. I know this,” he continued, “because it happened to me.” This is the truth about the Qur’an; every ayat is potentially more powerful than a nuclear bomb. Yet how comparatively nonchalantly we rattle off the ayats as we do our salat each day; with how little real consideration we pick up the Book and recite our daily portion. How great is our heedlessness and how abundant is Allah’s mercy towards us. I have mentioned these things in order to remind myself and you of the immense inheritance we have received, of the incalculable debt of gratitude we owe to our Lord for making us people of the Qur’an. So let us take advantage of what remains of this Ramadan to renew our relationship with the Qur’an and deepen our love for it so that it truly becomes a constant companion for us in everything we do. It is called the Encompassing Ocean so let us swim in it and drown in it and absorb its meanings into ourselves so that it turns into the very texture of our lives. In doing this we will grow in love for Allah and his Messenger and discover for ourselves the very source of the sunna of our Prophet, salla’Llahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, for as ‘A’isha, radiya’Llahu ‘anha, told us his character was the Qur’an; and in doing this we will be following in the footsteps of the Companions and those who have followed them in taking on Allah’s guidance at the source and putting it into practice in their lives and making it available to those around them. May Allah make us all in the truest and deepest sense people of the Qur’an

Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley

ISLAM HERE

RAMADAN

1437

HEALTH

PAGE 13

THE SUNNAH & BENEFIT OF EATING DATES S

Dates have always received more attention than any other fruit. The Holy Prophet has encouraged Muslims to break their fast with dates and water. There are more than 300 different types of dates with each having its own taste and texture. Like other fruits, dates are seasonal; therefore the supply of fresh delicious dates are always limited. Dates can be classified as soft, semi-soft and dry dates. oft dates, plain dates, dried dates and date paste. Fresh dates are a premium source of vitamin C. Since dates contain relatively little water, they do not become more concentrated upon drying. Each date provides about 20 calories, and is a good source of carbohydrate, fibre, and potassium, also providing some calcium and iron along with other vitamins and minerals in smaller amounts. Dates do not have significant amounts of fat, cholesterol, protein, or sodium. Among the family of dates, the ‘Ajwa dates are superior in quality.

night in water. You should consume these soaked dates in the morning to get the full benefits. • Intestinal Disorders: The nicotinic content that is present in the dates is said to be beneficial for curing any kinds of intestinal disorders. Continuous intake of dates helps to maintain a check on the growth of the pathological organisms and thus, helps in the rise of friendly anti-bacteria in the intestines. • Heart problems: Dates helpful in maintaining your heart in a healthy condition. Soak dates for whole night. Crush them and consume in the morning. This is will help a lot to strengthen weak heart. Best to taken twice a week.

Muhammad Danish

Narrated by Sa’d: The Prophet said, “If somebody takes some ‘Ajwa dates every morning, he will not be effected by poison or magic on that day till night.” (Another narrator said seven dates). (Sahih Bukhari) Health benefits of dates are uncountable, as this fruit is affluent in natural fibres. Dates are rich in several vitamins and minerals. It is said that one date is minimum requirement of a balanced and healthy diet. It helps in fighting constipation, intestinal disorders, weight gain, and heart problems.

hroughout Islamic history, certain types of food were always consumed because they were eaten and recommended by the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Salman ibn Amir Dhabi related that the Prophet said: Break your fast with dates, or else with water, for it is pure (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi)

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People consume dates in several ways, like mixing the paste of the dates with milk, yoghurt or with bread or butter to make the food tasty and healthy. This paste is beneficial for both adults and children, especially during the time of recovery. According to the modern medicine survey, it is known that dates are useful in preventing abdominal cancer. Breaking fast with eating dates helps us to avoid overeating of the food after the fast. When the body absorbs the nutritional value of the dates, the feeling of hunger gets pacified. There are several health benefits from eating dates. Below are some common ailments which can be treated by consuming dates. • Constipation: Dates are a laxative food. To obtain the laxative effect from dates, you need to soak dates for one full

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H E A L T H

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Ramadan & DIABETES • It starts gradually, usually later in life, and because the symptoms may not be so obvious it might be years before you learn that you have it. • If undetected, can lead to serious life-threatening conditions. • Approximately 90 per cent of people living with diabetes have Type 2.

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY BODY WHEN I FAST?

f you are fasting and have diabetes, it is important to speak to your physician as early as possible. For some people with diabetes, fasting can be dangerous or can cause problems to your health. Your physician will be able to advise you on whether it is safe for you to fast. If you are able to fast, they will advise you on how to keep good diabetes control throughout the fasting period.

When we don’t eat during a fast, at about eight hours after our last meal our bodies start to use energy stores to keep our blood glucose (sugar) levels normal. For most people, this is not harmful. With diabetes, especially if you take certain tablets or insulin, you are at risk of hypoglycaemia or ‘hypos’ (low blood glucose levels). This year, the fasts are long and the risks of hypoglycaemia and dehydration (lack of water) are high. Another problem that can occur if you have diabetes, is the risk of high glucose levels following the larger meals that we eat before and after fasting (at Suhoor/Sehri and Iftar). Hypoglycaemia, high glucose levels and dehydration can be dangerous for people with diabetes.

I HAVE DIABETES – CAN I FAST?

Diabetes is a health condition where the amount of glucose in your blood gets too high.

Most people with health problems, such as diabetes are exempt from fasting. Choosing to fast is a personal decision that you should make with advice from your diabetes team. For some people with diabetes, fasting can be dangerous or cause problems to your health. Certain people and circumstances are exempt from fasting. For example:

• This happens if your pancreas doesn’t make any insulin or enough insulin to help the glucose enter your body’s cells. Or the insulin it does make doesn’t work properly. • Insulin is the hormone produced by the pancreas that allows glucose to enter the body’s cells, where it’s used as fuel for energy so we can work, play and generally live our lives. It’s vital for life. • Glucose come from digesting carbohydrate and it’s also produced by the liver. • If you have diabetes, your body cannot make proper use of this fuel so it builds up in the blood which can be dangerous.

• Children (under the age of puberty) • The elderly • Those who are sick or have a certain health condition • Those with learning difficulties • Those who are travelling • Pregnant, breastfeeding and menstruating women • Anyone who would be putting their health at serious risk by fasting, e.g. people who treat their diabetes with insulin and/or certain medications, people who have diabetic complications (damage to eyes, kidney or the nerves in your hands or feet), or people who have poor control of their diabetes.

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF DIABETES

If unsure, speak to your GP, diabetes nurse or diabetes doctor before fasting. Remember, if you cannot fast, you can complete your duties by offering charity or providing food to the poor. Speak to your local Imam for more information about this. Remember, if you cannot fast this Ramadan, you may be able to make up the fast at a later date, perhaps during the winter months. You must speak to your doctor or diabetes nurse about your diabetes treatment as early as possible before Ramadan.

WHAT IS DIABETES?

Type 1 is when the body is unable to produce any insulin, which we need to break down the glucose (energy) in what we eat or drink. • We don’t know exactly what causes it, but we know it’s not to do with being overweight. You can’t prevent Type 1 diabetes. • It is usually diagnosed when you are a child or young adult, although can occur in older adults as well. • Approximately 10 per cent of people with diabetes have Type 1. Type 2 develops when the body cannot make enough insulin, or when the insulin produced doesn’t work properly. • Your family history, age and ethnic background affects your risk of developing it, and you’re more likely to get Type 2 diabetes if you’re overweight.

IS IT OK TO TEST MY BLOOD GLUCOSE IN RAMADAN WHILE I AM FASTING? Yes, testing your blood glucose levels regularly is important and will keep you safe while fasting. This will not break your fast.

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DO I NEED TO WAKE UP FOR SUHOOR (SEHRI)? Long hours without eating increase the risk of hypoglycaemia. You must try to eat a meal at Suhoor just before sunrise and not at midnight, as this will help to keep your glucose levels more balanced through the fast.

WHAT TYPES OF FOOD SHOULD I EAT AT SUHOOR (SEHRI)? At Suhoor you should eat starchy carbohydrates which release energy slowly, such as multi-grain bread, oat-based cereals, basmati rice together with beans, pulses, lentils and fruit and vegetables. Other foods which will keep your blood glucose levels more stable through the fast include pitta bread, chapattis and semolina. As with all meals, eat sensibly, do not over eat and remember to drink plenty of water.

WHAT TYPES OF FOOD SHOULD I EAT AT IFTAR? Remember to eat sensibly and healthily all year round but also in Ramadan. Overeating and eating the wrong foods (such as fried foods, foods high in fat and sugar) in large quantities will not only make you put on weight but will also lead to big increases and imbalances in your blood glucose levels. Keep portion sizes moderate. Remember that Ramadan is also about self-control and discipline. Please see your dietitian for further advice.

WHAT TYPES OF DRINKS CAN I HAVE? Fasting can put you at risk of dehydration with long hours of fasting and also if you have high blood glucose levels. Drink plenty of fluids (sugar-free), particularly water at Suhoor and after Iftar.

CAN I PRAY TARAWEEH? Remember, Taraweeh can be a strenuous activity and you could become dehydrated or have low blood glucose levels. To avoid problems during Taraweeh, make sure you: • Eat starchy foods with Iftar as they are digested slowly • Drink plenty of water following Iftar • Take a bottle of water and glucose treatment with you to Taraweeh.

SAFETY TIPS • Always carry glucose treatment with you. • Always have diabetes identification, such as a medical bracelet. • Test your blood regularly to monitor your glucose (sugar) levels. This will not break your fast. • Test your blood glucose level if you feel unwell during the fast. • If your blood sugar level is high or low, you must treat this. • If your blood glucose is less than 3.3mmol/l, end the fast immediately and treat the low blood sugar level. • If your blood glucose level is below 4.0mmol/l at the start of the fast and you are on insulin or sulphonylureas (or any other medication that can cause a hypo), do not fast. • If your blood glucose level is higher than 16.7mmol/l, end the fast immediately. • If you become dehydrated, end the fast immediately and have a drink of water. • If you start to feel unwell, disoriented, confused, if you collapse or faint, stop fasting and have a drink of water or other fluid. • You should never stop your insulin, but you must speak to your doctor because you may need to change the dose and times of your insulin injections. If any of the above occur, speak to your diabetes team before fasting again.

peak to your diabetes team if you are planning to fast. Check your blood glucose levels more often. Try to fast a couple of days in the month before Ramadan (the month of Shabaan) to see if you are capable of fasting without complications. Continue a varied and balanced diet. Include more starchy carbohydrates and slowly absorbed foods. Try not to have too many sugary and fatty foods. When you break the fast, ensure you drink plenty of sugar-free and decaffeinated drinks to avoid dehydration.

DIABETES & RAMADAN INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE

ISLAM HERE

RAMADAN

1437

HEALTH

PAGE 15

THE HEALTHY HEART ASSESSMENT This is because genetics and lifestyle also play a role. For this reason a number of up to date tests are done including ultrasound scanning of the blood vessels in the neck to see their thickness which is a predictor of future heart attack and stroke.

130 heart attack happen in South Africa each day. 240 strokes happen in South Africa each day. These happen suddenly. Don’t be taken by surprise!

WHAT IS YOUR HEALTHY HEART AGE?

he Vascular Centre has a Healthy Heart Assessment created by a Vascular Surgeon with the aim of helping you prevent heart attacks and strokes by making you aware of your risk and identifying where you can make changes for a healthier, happier life! Find out your healthy heart age and cardiovascular risk profile at The Vascular Centre, by undergoing an assessment that uses up to date technology and latest research in order to determine if the age of your heart and vessels correlates with your actual age!

WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW MY RISK? It always seems a sudden and scary event when a person has a heart attack, however, when one actually evaluates all the risks, it is clear that the risks have been there all the

time and just escalating for years. Cardiovascular disease is known as “The Silent Killer”, for exactly that reason.

HOW DO I FIND OUT MY RISK? There are many scoring systems

and evaluations worldwide which look at one’s cardiovascular health and may evaluate risk in the future. Some are more accurate than others, and some more relevant to certain individuals. There is no perfect scoring system.

r Redman has created an intense, combined risk assessment, taking into account actual measurements of the arteries to get a vascular age combined with well known risk predictions of a heart attack and stroke as well as your heart age. She adds these to other evaluations such as blood results to get an individualised result. She emphasises that looking at cholesterol in isolation is not good enough, one needs to do ratio’s of a lipid profile to see cardiovascular risk and if one’s type of cholesterol is dangerous or not. Merely stating that one has high cholesterol does not give enough relevant information on the risk or cardiovascular status of a person. One can get an idea of one’s current cardiovascular health as well as one’s future risk. This is important, as we generally live in the ‘now’ feeling OK and if tests are OK or ‘nearly OK’ we accept them as not too bad. However, when one looks

to the future, the results can be alarming.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS? This assessment and design is unique and there is nowhere else that will combine everything done in the assessment. Additionally, and importantly, it is individual and suited to you. After evaluating your cardiovascular risk from all angles, using up to date technology, The Vascular Centre will then give you your own comprehensive, personalised report. Additional information and advice on lifestyle management – such as the Optimise evaluation or programme – will also be provided according to your results.

WHY DO THIS? You can see inside your own blood vessels and be aware of your own current health risks. You can then make guided individual lifestyle changes to reduce these risks and keep monitoring your cardiovascular risk profile. It is you choosing to Optimise your health for life!

THE VASCULAR CENTRE OXFORD HOUSE CENTURY CITY

O P I N I O N

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TERRORISM AS PRETEXT ...continued from pg.8 FOR INTERVENTION IN MIDDLE EAST

ome of the high-ranking American and British security officials, like Dennis Blair of NSA, Eliza Manningham-Buller of MI-5 and Alastair Crooke of MI-6, have conceded on the record that bringing down the possibility of incidents of terrorism to a zero-level in a highly militarized world is simply not an option. Terrorism is only a crime, a heinous crime but a crime, nevertheless; it is not an act of war. Those who treat it like an act of war have ulterior motives. It is the job of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent and minimize such incidents from taking place; however, as the above mentioned security specialists have stated in their reports that just like any other crime the incidents of terrorism can be brought down significantly by implementing prudent and long-term security and foreign policies, but complete elimination of terrorism is simply not a possibility. Crimes like murders, thefts, robberies and rapes do occur in all societies; in the ideal, prosperous and peaceful societies the rate of such crimes is low, while in the impoverished and conflict-ridden societies the rate of such crimes is high. But there will always be criminals like Anders Breivik and Seung-Hui Cho of Virginia Tech massacre-fame who

would unleash a reign of terror in any given society. The root factors that have primarily been responsible for spawning militancy and insurgency anywhere in the world is not religion but socio-economics, ethnic differences, marginalization of the disenfranchised ethno-linguistic and ethnoreligious groups and the ensuing conflicts; socio-cultural backwardness of the affected regions, and the weak central control of the impoverished developing states over their territory, which is sometimes further exacerbated by deliberate arming of certain militant groups by the regional and global players.

“

nevertheless; it is not an act of war. Those who treat it like an act of war have ulterior motives.

“

After invading and occupying Afghanistan and Iraq, and when the American “nationbuilding” projects failed in those hapless countries, the US’ policy-makers immediately realized that they were facing large-scale

and popularly-rooted insurgencies against the foreign occupation, consequently, the occupying military altered its CT (counterterrorism) doctrines in the favour of a COIN (counter-insurgency) strategy. A COIN strategy is essentially different from a CT approach and it also involves dialogue, negotiations and political settlements, alongside the coercive tactics of law enforcement and military and paramilitary operations on a limited scale.

ll the regional militant groups like the Taliban, Islamic State, al Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria; and even some of the ideological affiliates of al Qaeda and Islamic State, like AQAP, AQIM, Islamic State in Afghanistan, Yemen and Libya, which have no organizational and operational association with al Qaeda Central or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, respectively, are not terror groups, as such, but Islamist insurgents whose cherished goal is the enforcement of Shari’a in the areas of their influence, like their progenitor, the Salafist State of Saudi Arabia. Finally, I fail to see the reason that Western powers have been blowing the Islamist insurgencies in the Middle East out of proportions, which have been anything but the consequence of their own ill-conceived

wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Syria? What is it that the insurgents want and the socalled “liberal interventionists” cannot accept as a matter of principle? Is it the enforcement of Shari’a, or the barbaric Hudood-style’d‘ executions that have earned the Taliban, Islamic State, al Shabaab and Boko Haram the odium of the international community? If that is the case, then why do the Western powers overlook the excesses committed by Saudi Arabia where Shari’a is the law of the land and Hudood executions are being carried out everyday. This contradiction speaks volumes about the sheer blatancy of Western powers: that, when it comes to securing 265 billion barrels of Saudi oil reserves and 100 billion barrels, each, of UAE and Kuwait that together constitutes 465 billion barrels; i.e., one-third of the world’s proven crude oil reserves, they are willing to overlook those regimes but when it comes to negotiating with the Islamist insurgents to reach political settlements and to let up on all the violence and spilling of blood in the region, they stand firm against the so-called “terrorists” as a matter of principle. And principle is a matter of interests

Nauman Sadiq

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