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Review all anti terrorism laws Issue: 25
April 2010
All counter-terrorism laws passed since 11 September 2001 should be reviewed to see if they are still necessary, says a committee of MPs and peers. They questioned whether ministers could legitimately argue, nine years on, that a “public emergency threatening the life of the nation” remained. And they said the government’s “narrow” definition of what amounted to complicity in torture was “worrying”. The government says the threat from terrorism remains “real and serious”.
In its report, Parliament’s joint committee on human rights said it was pleased to see that ministers said a commitment to human rights “underpinned” counter-terrorism work. But it said “all too often” they were “squeezed out by the imperatives of national security and public safety”. It said the government should drop entirely its plan to extend the period terrorism suspects can be held without charge from 28 to 42 days. The plan was shelved in the face of opposition in the House of Lords but
remains as a draft bill, to be enacted if needed. The committee said the draft bill was “alarmingly broad”. The need for the current 28-day limit, extended from 14 days in 2005, should be revisited and bail should be considered “in principle” for some terrorist suspects, the committee said. It complained that the intelligence agencies’ insistence on control over the examination and transcription of intercept evidence - like phone taps - amounted to a “de facto veto” of efforts to see it used as evidence in Continued on Page 2
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the Passion -
Passion Islam
I April 2010
By Shakir Ahmed
When friends fall out Something seriously is going on behind the scenes, USA having a tiff with Israel, UK expelling Israel’s diplomat, can it be trouble at the top or is it just a smokescreen to avert away from the real situation of the plight of the Palestinian people?, the settlement and Israel’s government tortures regime against the innocent and defenceless Palestinians. Can it be that the bullish puppet on a string hold on the USA and UK has finally broken and they have said ‘enough is enough, Israel we will not bow to you no more’, for some strange reason I don’t think USA and UK would say that, a bit too coward to express those thoughts to Israel. I am sure they will kiss
and make up and everything will be forgotten well in UK’s case the hugging and kissing might have to wait a bit longer after the election as few news report suggest the expulsion of Israel’s diplomat over the Dubai passport saga was ploy to win Muslims votes and give Labour some vital Muslim votes not surprising considering they need all the help they can get to win the next election but then would you want a conservative government which apparently has a strong Israel lobby control and overall can any of the parties really be any good to you. Can you trust any party to help the Innocent Palestinians? If the answer is NO then they don’t deserve your vote.
Write to: Editor, Passion Islam, PO Box 159, Batley, West Yorkshire, WF17 1AD or email: info@passionislam.com - www.passionislam.com
Review all anti terrorism laws Continued from front page
court. The committee asked whether it was realistic to continue to say the same state of emergency as in September 2001 still remained. The government then used the “public emergency test” to derogate from the European Convention on Human Rights, so it could detain foreign terrorist suspects without trial. That was ruled illegal in 2005, but the committee said the government had “never relinquished its assertion that there is a public emergency threatening the life of the nation” something which had a “deleterious effect on public debate” about antiterror laws. The committee pointed out that the threat level had fluctuated between “critical” and “substantial”, according to the assessment of the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC). The committee has already called
for a full inquiry into claims UK security services were complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects - a claim denied by the head of MI6. The government denies any complicity in torture, saying it “unreservedly condemns” it and does not “participate in, solicit, encourage of condone torture”. But the committee said ministers’ definition of “complicity” was “very much narrower” than that of the committee. The government said its position was “that the receipt of intelligence should not occur where it is known or believed that receipt would amount to encouragement to the intelligence services of other states to commit torture”. The committee said that was a “significant and worrying change in definition”. The wide-ranging report also says
This Magazine contains Ayaat of the Qur’an and Hadith of the Prophet (SAW), please ensure you handle it with respect & care - Sukran -
the independent reviewer of terrorism laws - currently Lord Carlisle - should be appointed by, and report directly to Parliament and criticises the head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, for choosing not to appear before the committee in public. The committee’s chairman, the Labour MP Andrew Dismore, said: “There is no question that we face a serious threat from terrorism, or that we need legislation to counter that threat. “The question is, are the counterterror measures we have in place justifiable, on an ongoing basis, in light of the most up-to-date information we have.” He said a “thoroughgoing, evidence-based review” of counterterrorism laws passed since 2001 should be “an urgent priority for the next Parliament”. - BBC Web
Views expressed in the Passion column are of the contributers and not Necessarily of Passion Islam
Police may face legal action over searches Passion Islam
I April 2010
Most police forces in England and Wales are “disproportionately” targeting black and Asian people in stop and searches according to the equality watchdog. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission has threatened to take legal action over possible breaches of the Race Relations Act. It carried out a report into 42 policing areas over the last five years which found that black people were stopped and searched at least six times more often than whites, with Asian people twice as likely to be stopped. Dorset, the West Midlands, Hampshire and Nottinghamshire were singled out for having the most disproportionate record, and the biggest impact was seen in London although that was down to the capital’s large ethnic minority population and high rate of stop and searches. The Terrorism Act has also led to a sharp increase in searches, with a quarter of a million people stopped last
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year, the highest on record. Yet just 0.6 per cent of those searches actually led to an arrest. And that, according to the government’s independent reviewer of terror legislation, Lord Carlile, is just fuelling more resentment against the police. Youth worker Ken Hinds, who has recieved a police commendation for his work tackling knife crime, described how he has been consistently stopped for almost 40 years: “It can happen anywhere - when I’m driving, or on the train, or when I step out of my house to go to the sweet shop. It always starts with a question about something small, and then escalates to a search. They usually say you fit a description.” The Commission did find some examples of good practice, and pointed out out that a fairer use of the powers actually resulted in crime reduction and increased public confidence in the police. Over the last ten years, Cleveland has slashed its use of stop and search to a fraction of
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its previous level and can now point to falling crime rates and one of Britain’s highest levels of public confidence. The Home Office said that the government was committed to promoting equality, with a justice system that does not discriminate against anyone on the grounds of race, and promised improvements were being made. But a decade after the Stephen Lawrence report condemned “institutional racism” in the Metropolitan police, the EHRC said that racist attitudes, stereotyping and discrimination continue to be found among a number of police officers around the country. The Commissioner, Simon Woolley, has demanded real improvement in the statistics, saying “police services should strive to work fairly and effectively while respecting basic human rights and discrimination law. Only then can they be said to be ‘good enough’.” - Channel 4 News
Tesco faces prosecution over illegal Israeli goods 4
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Britain’s largest supermarket chain, Tesco, is facing prosecution for selling falsely-labelled goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements. The legal action is being demanded by 100 residents and shoppers in Swansea, south Wales, who have presented evidence to the local Trading Standards Office. Examples include dates sold by Tescos that are labelled as produce of the “West Bank”, implying that they are produced by Palestinian growers, but which the supermarket has admitted were produced by illegal Israeli settlements. The prosecution comes after the British government issued new guidelines for food labels in December to distinguish between goods from Palestinians in the occupied territories and produce from Israeli settlements. The new guidelines came after a long-running campaign protesting against the abuse of goods normally labelled as coming from only Israel or the West Bank in the occupied territories. The Swansea residents warned that some shoppers who buy the Israeli goods at Tesco “unwittingly
collude in the settlement land-theft”. “The objection to the sale and labelling of these goods is not just legalistic. The remorseless expansion of Israeli settlements is recognised by the UK government as an obstacle to peace negotiations”, they said. “The continuing land-theft, and military operations supporting it, are a daily threat to the life and livelihood of Palestinians in what’s left of their country”, they also added. Their letter of complaint to Trading Standards follows advice from the
national association of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, which has published grounds for the possible prosecution of stores selling Israeli settlement goods. This includes a compulsory EU requirement for foodstuffs to be marketed with “particulars of the place of origin or provenance where failure to give such particulars might mislead the consumer to a material degree as to the true origin or provenance of the foodstuff.” - IRNA
Up to three quarters of the poultry labelled as halal is not in fact halal, leading producers have warned. Approximately three-quarters of poultry and a small volume of beef and lamb sold as halal in the UK are slaughtered by machine rather than an individual, Eblex Halal Steering Group member Naved Syed claimed. As the slaughter method was not usually printed on labels, the meat was essentially being passed off as halal, he said. “If you told Muslims it was done by a machine they wouldn’t buy it,”
he said. “Practically all imams in this country have said that machine killing is not halal. Otherwise there’s no difference between halal and nonhalal.” Britain’s two million Muslims consume 40% of all the poultry and 27% of the beef and lamb sold in this country, according to Syed. Eblex is carrying out consumer research to establish attitudes to halal production so the Halal Steering Group can devise the best way forward. “Machine slaughter is definitely not a lawful condition of halal you
have to have a manual slaughter and also each bird needs to be blessed,” said Zahid Hussain, chairman of Cappoquin Poultry. Another poultry supplier argued there was no consensus on acceptable halal methods. “There is a lot of politics between different bodies and in the standards themselves,” he said, comparing the split among Muslims over slaughter methods to divisions in the meat industry when farm assurance standards were being developed. - The Grocer
Muslims up in arms over ‘misleading’ halal labels
UK terror interrogation guidelines to be delayed
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The UK Government is to delay the publication of new guidelines for intelligence officers and military personnel on the treatment and interrogation of terrorist suspects held overseas, it was disclosed. Chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) Kim Howells said he had been assured by Prime Minister Gordon Brown that the guidance would be published in the House of Commons debate on the committee’s annual report. But in a statement, a Government spokesman said more work was needed on the guidelines in the light of the ICS’s recommendations. “The Government is committed to publishing as soon as possible our consolidated guidance to personnel about the standards we apply during the detention and interviewing of detainees overseas. Our aim of consolidating and publishing this guidance is unprecedented,” the spokesman said. “We welcome the critical contribution of the Intelligence and Security Committee in reviewing the guidance, as part of its important intelligence oversight role. “The committee’s report on the draft guidance is comprehensive
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and insightful, and has raised a number of issues that need further consideration. “The Government has therefore asked the ISC to work with them to ensure that the Government’s position on these complex issues is properly understood and to help them consider how best to ensure the Government provides clarity here.” In a terse statement, the committee said its review of the new guidelines had been sent to Brown on March 5 and publication now was “a matter for the Prime Minister.” Dr Howells also complained that the Government had failed to take steps to ensure the committee’s independence in the face of criticism that it is too close to
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the machinery of government and the intelligence agencies it is supposed to oversee. In its annual report for 2009/10, published today, the ISC recommended that it should be moved out of the Cabinet Office, where it is currently based, to another government department, such as the Ministry of Justice, which is less directly involved in intelligence matters. Dr Howells said the fact that the Cabinet Office set the committee’s budget and employed its staff represented “another conflict of interest.” “Separation and independence are the key issues here,” he said. - KUNA
Blair’s secret oil links to Mideast revealed Former British prime minister Tony Blair has been paid to advise a South Korean oil company and the Kuwaiti Government. A watchdog in Britain has revealed that former UK Premier Tony Blair has secretly received cash from a South Korean energy company and from Kuwaiti royals. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments says Tony Blair has been receiving cash from the Kuwaiti government and the South Korean UI Energy Corporation which has oil interests in the US and Iraq. The Advisory Committee had allowed Blair to keep details of both
deals from the public for 20 months, since June 2008, as the former prime minister claimed the deals were commercially sensitive. Blair has reportedly made some 20 million pounds since leaving Downing Street in June 2007 and approximately 1 million pounds sterling from the deal with the Kuwaiti government. The deals emerged when the chairman of the advisory committee, the former Tory cabinet minister Ian Lang, finally lost patience with Blair and decided to ignore his objections and publish the details of the hidden deals. The committee website has now
published a statement identifying Blair’s job as “advice to a consortium of investors led by the UI Energy Corporation (publication delayed due to market sensitivities).” In a further revelation, a classified memo from Blair to former US President Bush showed the full extent of his support for the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The personal note shows that Blair wrote eight months before the Iraqi invasion: “You know, George, whatever you decide to do, I’m with you.” - Press TV
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Ex-MI5 chief: US concealed torture from UK
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Former head of Britain’s MI5 has said the United States deliberately kept UK in the dark about their mistreatment of terror suspects. Addressing the House of Lords, Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller said she only discovered that alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was tortured after retiring in 2007. “The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing,” Manningham-
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Buller was quoted as saying by London’s Evening Standard website. Her comments follow controversy over UK intelligence agencies alleged complicity with their US counterparts in the harsh mistreatment of prisoners as a reason for taking the cases to court. Last month, the government lost a legal battle to prevent the disclosure of intelligence which said Binyam Mohamed, a British resident formerly held at Guantanamo Bay,
was subjected to torture while in US custody and that British authorities knew about it. Ministers and current MI5 director general Jonathan Evans have denied the allegations, insisting that there was no collusion by UK security officers. The former spy also claimed that the British government had lodged “protests” with the US about the harsh interrogation methods, without giving further details. - Press TV
UK troops need to make better peace plans, say MPs When troops are committed to operations in future there must be robust plans to coordinate military and reconstruction efforts from the earliest stages, the parliamentary Defense Committee warned. “The all-party committee of MPs issued the warning in a new report entitled ‘Comprehensive Approach: The point of war is not just to win but to make a better peace.” It recommended that the next government after the forthcoming elections lay out plans for the combination of civilian and military actors in a counter-insurgency operation in order better to preserve all the lessons learned from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. “Communication is a key component of the use of the Comprehensive Approach and any strategy must include plans for conveying the strategic intent of the mission to local nationals,” said committee chair James Arbuthnot. Plans for conveying the strategic intent were also key to keep to “the British public in an informative but fair and balanced way,” Arbuthnot said. The Committee looked to the
Stabilisation Unit recently formed by the Defence Ministry, Foreign Office and International Development Department to maintain a capacity to deploy significant numbers of personnel for post-conflict reconstruction. This was also “to ensure that vital knowledge and skills gained during deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan are retained and built on,” it said. “At the start of operations like these, the Government should formally announce what government departments are to have what
responsibilities,” Arbuthnot said. “We would want to see leadership, clear objectives, a defined end state, strategy, tactics and details of the nature of civilian and military personnel required,” he said. The committee, which has previously been critical of the handling of both the Iraq and Afghan war, also said that the government “needs to find better ways to draw on the expertise of NGOs without compromising the effectiveness and safety of aid workers on the ground.” - IRNA
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UK ‘’must retain all allies’’ to combat terror Passion Islam
I April 2010
Britain must continue to work with international intelligence agencies in the fight against terrorism even if they do not share UK standards on human rights, the Foreign Office has warned. In its annual report on human rights around the world, the Foreign Office said the UK could not afford the “luxury” of co-operating only with agencies in countries which did not abuse or torture detainees. It said British agencies tried to minimise the risk that detainees held overseas were mistreated when they were involved in operations, but it was not always possible to “reduce the risk to zero”. The report said that ultimately it was for ministers to decide whether the needs of national security outweighed the concerns of possible mistreatment. It follows a number of high profile court cases - most notably by former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam
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Mohamed - claiming the domestic intelligence service MI5 officers had been complicit in their mistreatment at the hands of foreign agencies, including those of the US and Pakistan. One MI5 officer is currently facing a criminal investigation by Scotland Yard. The report said that while the UK had put in place measures to ensure detainees held in its custody were not subjected to torture or abuse, it could not always have the same level of assurance when they were held abroad. “We cannot get all the intelligence we need from our own sources because the terrorist groups we face are scattered around the world and our resources are finite. So we must work with intelligence and security agencies overseas,” it said. “Some of them share our standards and laws while others do not. But we cannot afford the luxury of only dealing
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with those that do. The intelligence we get from others saves British lives.” It stressed that ministers took their responsibility to balance national security interests with human rights concerns “very seriously”. “If the risk of mistreatment is too high then we will not go ahead with an operation. This is not just a theoretical possibility - operations have been stopped because the risk of mistreatment was judged to be too high,” it said. “But this is never an easy judgment and we would be failing in our twin duties to defend the country and to uphold human rights if we pretended that there was never a tension between the two.” The Government is currently preparing to publish its revised guidelines for the intelligence agencies and armed forces personnel on the questioning of detainees held overseas. - KUNA
Muslim police officers to tackle extremism in Scotland prisons
Muslim police officers are to work in prisons across Scotland in an attempt to prevent extremism and curb reoffending. The controversial Muslim Police Association (MPA) will work in prisons and communities to try to deter young Muslims from becoming involved in crime and increase new recruits to forces. Strathclyde Police’s Muslim Police Association was launched by Alex Salmond in 2008, despite criticism from Semperscotland, the Governmentfunded organisation that represents black and minority ethnic officers in Scotland, that it would “weaken” the voice of multiculturalism within the police service. There are an estimated 30,000 Muslims living in Strathclyde, making up 1.5% of the population, but at that time just 31 of Strathclyde Police’s 7,000 officers were Muslim. The MPA says it has increased the intake of Muslim officers to Strathclyde by 19%. It now has 46 members and estimates there are some 90 Muslim officers across the country. Semperscotland, which was formed seven years ago to help eradicate institutional racism within the service,
said the new association threatened to damage its ability to support the country’s 200 black and minority ethnic officers and improve relations between the police and the diverse minority communities. However, the MPA is now being rolled out across Scotland’s eight forces. Sergeant Amar Shakoor, chair of the MPA and the first Muslim officer to be recruited in Scotland, said: “We are a faith-based group but one of our major aims is to promote policing as a career in the Muslim community. We are working to build community cohesion. We are providing advice and helping facilitate
meetings between community leaders, young people and the police in relation to issues like stop and search.” Concerns have been expressed south of the border about the increasing politicisation of the police following the spread of special interest associations within individual forces. The move follows figures indicating that forces are recruiting even lower proportions of black and minority ethnic officers than in the past. Scottish forces hired just 18 people from ethnic minorities in 2008-9, out of nearly 2,000 officers signed up under the SNP’s recruitment drive. - herald scot
Asians twice as likely to be stopped
Passion Islam
I April 2010
A report has criticised the high proportion of police stop and search operations carried out on members of London’s black and Asian communities. The latest figures for Waltham Forest show black people are four times - and Asian people 2.5 times - more likely to be stopped and searched than white people in the borough. The figures, from 2008/2009 were released as part of the Stop and Think report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Police forces across the country with “disproportionate and discriminatory” use of stop and
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search were warned they may face legal action from the commission for breaching the Race Relations Act. The Metropolitan Police had the highest number of “excessive” stop and searches in the country. Waltham Forest had the third highest disproportionality ratio in London for searches among the Asian community, with an average of 2.5 Asian people being stopped for each white person. It was also the fifth-worst borough in London for the number of excessive stop and searches among the Asian population, with 1,434. Figures for the black population showed, although there was a
Parliament criticises UK human rights watchdog A joint parliamentary committee criticised Britain’s new human rights watchdog as being too close to the government and called for a complete rewrite of its strategy. The Joint Committee on Human Rights expressed concern whether the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is “doing enough to devise and disseminate a culture of respect for human rights in public authorities” in the UK. In particular, it condemned the EHRC’s reticence to voice concerns over key human rights abuses, such as the policing of last year’s G20 protests in London. The strategy of the commission
following the merging of three equality bodies was “too vague” and there would appear to be “irreconcilable differences of view about relatively straightforward matters,” the committee of MPs and peers said. Their report lays bare the scale of in-fighting at the government’s equalities watchdog which blames its chair Trevor Phillips for a failure to tackle human rights abuses and questions its close ties to the ruling Labour Party. It criticises Equalities Minister Harriet Harman for reappointing Phillips unopposed last summer at the height of a row that led to the resignations of six commissioners.
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disproportionality ratio of four, the figure was among the lowest in London, with the borough in 15th place. The borough was in 16th place for excecssive stop and searches among the black population, with 3,080. Commissioner Simon Woolley from the EHRC, said: “It is time we saw real improvement in these statistics. “It is unrealistic and unhelpful to demand that policing should be perfect. “However, police services should strive to work fairly and effectively while respecting basic human rights and discrimination law.”
“No one expected the commission to transform the way public services are delivered, or attitudes to human rights in the UK in its early existence,” said committee chairman Andrew Dismore. “But we are concerned that the EHRC has not done enough, well enough, on human rights issues. Major questions remain over the leadership of the EHRC,” Dismore said. - IRNA
Correction
Last month we ran an article in our Passion section titled ‘Muslim schools surpass national exam averages in the UK’ this article was sent into us by Muslim News and was a Muslim News story which we failed to mention in the Passion section.
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Muslim community in Myanmar subject to serious discrimination - UN
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Tomas Ojea Quintana said Monday that the Muslim community in a state in the North is subject to serious discrimination. He added, that the discriminatory acts against the Muslim minority in Myanmar represents essential human rights violations. Tomas Ojea Quintana said that those acts by the Government of Myanmar are against the principle of non-discrimination and called upon the government to address them and allow the Muslims in the Northern state to enjoy all human rights as they enjoyed political rights when voting for the 2008 referendum. He called for a commission of enquiry to address the gross human rights violations in Myanmar in general and that its mandate be under that of any UN body, noting that some of the acts against the people in Myanmar may entail crimes against humanity. Tomas Ojea Quintana said that it is now the time for the Government of Myanmar to assume its responsibility to undertake steps in the direction of eradicating those gross human rights violations because this year is an election year there.
While the Special Rapportuer on the Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn suggested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could be used as a tool for accountability because the Security Council can refer cases to the ICC when a country is not signatory to the ICC statute. He stressed that the UN must lend a helping hand for the protection of the people, and that the totality of the UN system must be used including
the Security Council. Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn called for specific measures, among them, to ensure the effective provision of and access to food and other basic necessities for those in need of assistance and to rectify the distorted pattern of food distribution and that money must be spent on food and not on the nuclearization of the country. Both UN Special Rapporteurs submitted today their reports to the Human Rights Council. - KUNA
The Makkah Monorail project is expected to become fully operational before the commencement of Haj next year, while 35 percent of the project will be ready for pilgrims by the end of the present year. Four international consultancy firms began feasibility studies to undertake the SR6.65 billion project in early 2009. The first part of the project that will be completed will be the line that begins from the southeast of Arafat (where most domestic and Gulf pilgrims converge) to Muzdalifah. The rail network will initially link the holy sites to the Haramain Railway and other railway networks, and eventually to
the Gulf Railway. It is expected to solve the traffic difficulties pilgrims face during the annual Haj. Each of the five lines of the monorail project will have an hourly capacity to carry 60,000 to 80,000 passengers between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, and at a later stage Mina and Makkah. The project has been launched with the construction of the southern line because most Saudi and Gulf pilgrims camp in that area of Mina. These pilgrims need 35,000 vehicles for transportation between the holy sites. On completion, pilgrims will have to walk no more than 300 meters to reach
one of the three monorail boarding stations in Arafat. Muzdalifah will also have three stations, while the stations in Mina will be close to its entry points, its center and the fourth floor of the Jamrat Bridge. The stations will be elevated and pilgrims will have access to escalators and staircases to reach them. All trains will have 12 large compartments, each of which will be 23 meters long and three meters wide. Each compartment will have five twometer wide doors on each side and a capacity to carry 250 to 300 passengers. The second line to be constructed will be the central line linking Arafat and Mina
Makkah rail confirmed to finish next year
SR20 billion spent on Makkah development Passion Islam
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Makkah Mayor Osama Al-Barr said that more than SR20 billion had been spent recently on developmental projects in Makkah. The rate of evictions for the first circular road was low compared to the evictions required for the construction
of the railway lines. “The last railway station in Makkah required a large number of evictions. The station will be east of Abdullah Arif Street and the Hokier or the Third Circular Road.” Al-Barr said people whose
properties were acquired for development projects for undeveloped and unplanned districts would have a share in the companies that developed those areas. The priority in undertaking development projects will be in the districts south of the city such as AlNakasah, Al-Zahur and south of Jabal Omar, he said. The mayor added that the municipality was studying ways to issue construction licenses with the least delay. Commercial establishments in Makkah were issued licenses in a single day. Speaking about the number of floors that could be in a building, the mayor said: “We hope to permit more floors for buildings though currently the building regulations of 2002 are in force. The new regulations governing the elevation of buildings are in the final stage of preparation and will be ready in three or four months, after getting the approval of the concerned ministry.”
The SR12 billion King Abdul Aziz Street project in Makkah will greatly improve traffic flow in and out of the holy city, according to the director general of the contractors responsible for the development. Muhammad Abdul Mohsen Al-Qinawi of the Umm Al-Qura Company for Construction and Development said once work is completed, motorists would be able to travel close to the Grand Mosque with ease at any time, especially during peak hours. “The road, which runs from Jeddah to Makkah’s entrance, will make entry and exit to and from the Grand Mosque very easy,” he told Arab News. The project is due to be completed in 2012. Al-Qinawi said more than 1,175 real estate units will be purchased for the
project and their owners compensated. “This will have no effect on the accommodation of pilgrims and visitors as the project is away from the central area of the Grand Mosque,” he added. He said the project would improve the local road network and services to match international standards. “The project will restructure traffic movement and the process of development in Makkah and will take into consideration the constant increase in the number of pilgrims and visitors as well as their future needs,” he explained. Al-Qinawi said shares of the company, which was established under a royal decree, would be offered to the public after administrative procedures have been completed. “The company will cover just under a third of the project’s costs while
other developers will cover the rest,” he said. He said the purchase of properties for the project started early this year and would be completed early next year. “Efforts will be jointly made with the Makkah municipality to accommodate citizens whose properties were confiscated until they are financially compensated,” he added. “The project, which covers 1.2 million square meters, represents a third of development projects and basic infrastructure schemes in Makkah,” he said, adding that the company was given an area of 3.5 million square meters in the holy city to develop. Al-Qinawi said the 60-meter-wide road would incorporate the Haramain rail tracks.
New road to ease traffic in Makkah’s central area
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Israels settlement plans continues
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear that settlement building in east Jerusalem would continue, in a move likely to further heighten tensions with key ally the United States. “Construction will continue in Jerusalem as this has been the case over the past 42 years,” he told members of his Likud party. Israel occupied mainly Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community. Israel’s go-ahead for the
construction of 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem infuriated Washington, particularly since it coincided with a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden aimed at promoting renewed peace talks with the Palestinians. Israel’s ambassador to Washington said bilateral relations have hit a 35year low. US administration officials including Biden, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and senior presidential adviser David Axelrod have slammed both the new construction and the timing
of the announcement as insulting and destructive to peace efforts. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said that Israel’s move “endangered and undermined the tentative agreement to begin proximity talks.” “Settlements are illegal, constitute an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two state-solution impossible,” she said in Cairo where she addressed members of the Arab League. Israel’s March 9 announcement of the green light for the new construction in east Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo came just two days after the Palestinians had reluctantly agreed to hold indirect negotiations with Israel. Israeli troops wounded 10 Palestinians as they opened fire on dozens of students at a West Bank checkpoint to protest against Israel’s actions in east Jerusalem, Palestinian medics and witnesses said. As tensions mounted, Israel extended a lockdown of the West Bank and, for the fourth day running, barred men under the age of 50 and non-Muslims from entering the city’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The compound is Islam’s third holiest site after Makkah and Medina in Saudi Arabia. - AFP
Grand Mufti of Damascus emphasizes need for Islamic unity
Grand Mufti of Damascus, Sheikh Bashir Eid al-Bari here Monday evening emphasized need for achieving Islamic unity as soon as possible. Speaking with IRNA on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the 6th Damascus Islamic Unity Conference, he said, “The Islamic Ummah has initially been a solid nation and this important point has been mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an, too.” The two-day scientific gathering was sponsored by the Syrian Endowments Organization, cosponsored by the IRI Cultural
attaché in Damascus, attended by the Secretary General of the WFPIST Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Taskhiri and a number of Islamic countries’ elites and Islamic personalities, and held at the Syrian National Library, called Maktabat ul-Assad. Eid al-Bari added, “The ongoing global and regional developments should not affect the materializing process of the Islamic unity.” The Mufti of Damascus said, “Regardless of the stands of each Muslim individual, they are all members of the same unified Ummah and therefore, they all need to have
the shared Islamic culture.” He reiterated, “Everyone should know that we are a solid Ummah, and our presence is expanded in the east, west north and south of the globe, which is why the call of Allah-o-Akbar echoes throughout the world, calling Muslim brethren of all races to stand for prayer before the grandeur of Almighty Allah altogether.” The Syrian Grand Mufti added, “The Holy verse of God’s Book have reiterated our unity and we are obliged to heed God’s command in this respect.” - IRNA
Pakistan terms U.S screening law discriminatory Passion Islam
I April 2010
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Pakistan said that the U.S. law of screening Pakistani nationals at American airports is discriminatory and the government has urged the U.S. administration to review it. The U.S introduced law to screen the full body of nationals of 14 countries, 13 of them Muslim nations and Cuba after a Nigerian national was arrested while he was allegedly blowing an American passenger plane on Christmas day. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Ammad Khan said in the National Assembly the screening law is humiliating and is hampering PakUS relations as Pakistani citizens are being targeted and humiliated through this legislation. The National Assembly, Lower House of the parliament, discussed the issue as members from the tribal regions raised the U.S law who ended
visit to the U.S against screening Reagan International Airport, Washington. Khan said the issue would also be raised during the strategic dialogue in which Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will represent Pakistan. The Minister said unfortunately the members of the National Assembly did not visit United States on official level but they visited under a programme of the US embassy, however the
government will take up the issue seriously with the US government. He requested the members of the parliament to take the foreign office into confidence prior to their any visit abroad so that proper arrangements could be made for them. Muhammad Kamran Khan, an MP from tribal region, said that six members of the National Assembly preferred to end their visit instead of going through screening. - IRNA
The Department of Defense has launched an investigation into whether a $24 million contract to gather information about developments in towns and villages in Afghanistan and Pakistan may have been inappropriately used instead to run an ad hoc spy ring, according to US military officials. A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case, told The Associated Press that Defense Department official by the name of Michael Furlong directed a defense contract to gather information about the region that could be shared with military units. After military officials suspected he was using Defense Department money for an off-the-books spy operation, defense officials shut down that part of the contract, the official said. Another major part of the controversy involves a territorial dispute between the CIA and military intelligence agencies over who can carry out covert versus clandestine operations. Furlong, who once served as deputy director of the Joint Military Information Support Command and
deputy commander of the Joint Psychological Operations Support, is said to have referred to his stable of contractors that he used to gather intelligence as “my Jason Bournes”. Critics say the incident is perplexing because, although it does indeed sound like something out of a Robert Ludlum novel, the US government has been outsourcing clandestine and covert activities for years. Furlong told reporters that his nowsuspended program prevented the assassination of two Afghan leaders, and that the private, unarmed teams he used to gather intelligence did not go around “kicking in doors” and killing people, and said the program was authorized by military commanders and saved lives. Furlong served in the army for 25 years, working for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and US Special Operations Command, among other assignments, and has numerous military awards. He has been a contractor and in the private sector since 1997 and was stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where he worked as a principal strategist for US Strategic
Command. He told reporters that he has been locked out of his office and no longer has access to documents or e-mails. Furlong said contractors he hired collected information that was openly available, such as banter at markets or bazaars that might contain information about potential attacks on US interests. Ironically, this story broke not long after the US top spy chief in Afghanistan issued a blistering report of the defense intelligence community that we covered a few months ago in a story entitled “US spy chief calls for cultural overhaul of defense intelligence.” US Army Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn had chastised intel agents for gathering what he called “the wrong types of information” in Afghanistan. He accused them of being incurious of local economics and landowners, ignorant of who the powerbrokers were in the region and thought they were disengaged from those in the best position to find answers, including aid workers and Afghan soldiers. - Arab News
Commanders authorized spy operations
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I April 2010
Europe biased against Muslims
The annual report of US State Department on human rights has warned of increasing concern that discrimination against Muslims was on the rise in Europe. The human rights report for 2009 cited Switzerland’s ban on the construction of minarets on mosques enacted in November, as well as continued bans or restrictions on head scarves and burqa worn by Muslims in France, Germany and the Netherlands. The report said: “Discrimination against Muslims in Europe has been an increasing concern.” Germany and the Netherlands have prohibitions against teachers wearing head scarves or burqa while on the job, and France bans the wearing of the religious garb in public, the report said. The report particularly focused on problems in the Netherlands, where Muslims number about 850,000, saying that Muslims face societal resentment based on the belief that Islam is not compatible with Western values. The report blamed right-wing politicians for playing a role in fuelling the resentment. It said: “Major incidents of violence against Muslims were rare, but minor incidents, including intimidation, brawls, vandalism, and graffiti with abusive language, were common.” It added that the department’s annual human rights report is mandated by Congress to allow MPs to factor the issue into decisions on allocated aid to foreign countries. Among other countries, the
report most critically faulted human rights practises in Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Syria and Russia. The report criticised China for crackdowns on Uighurs and in Tibet, as well as increased restrictions to the internet and other forms of information and news. Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner said: “The Chinese government’s human rights records remain poor and worsening in some areas, including increased cultural and religious repression of ethnic minorities ... and increased detention and harassment of activists and public-interest lawyers.” The State Department also focused on Iran and the repression of demonstrators who took to the streets following June’s presidential election. Dozens of people were killed and thousands were detained, some
facing prosecution. Posner said: “An already poor human rights situation (in Iran) rapidly deteriorated after the June elections. It is a place where we are continuing to see severe repression of dissent and are continuing to pay great attention.” The report also cited the increased toll conflicts in some countries inflicted on the civilian population in 2009, including in Afghanistan, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. There remain “significant human rights challenges” in Pakistan, the report said of the important US ally in the war on terrorism. The report said there were extrajudicial killings, torture, and disappearances. The State Department cited reports the military carried out up to 400 killings during counterinsurgency operations against the Taliban in North West Frontier Province and the Swat Valley. - Al Jazeera
Flyer calls on non-Jews to leave Palestine Right-wing ultra-orthodox Jews handed out Arabic fliers calling on “non-Jews to leave the land of Israel,” in the streets of Jerusalem on Sunday, witnesses reported. The fliers, quoting Torah and Quran, used scripture to urge Palestinians living in the city to leave. “The Old Testament says the land of Israel is small and belongs to Jews only. Others are not allowed to stay permanently,” the flier read Jewish exile from ancient Israel was due to a failure of compliance with divine orders, the paper explained, adding “now, after the Jewish people
returned to Israel, the people of Israel have complied with divine orders. “Thus, we ask you to leave the land of Israel in order to guarantee peace in this land. There are verses in the Old Testament and in the Quran that prove this.” The leaflet continued, “After you have seen divine explanations, and as Islam is a religion of manners, you have many countries in which you can live. You have to understand that we are complying with the orders in the Old Testament, so we suggest you negotiate with Israel to get
reimbursement.” No organization was identified as being behind the leaflet, and phone calls to the number provided went unanswered. - Ma’an News Agency
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7th century Arab palace identified in Israel Ruins in northern Israel previously thought to have been a synagogue have now been identified as a 7th century palace used by the Umayyad caliph who started construction of Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock, archaeologists said. The site on the shores of the Sea of Galilee is that of the al-Sinnabra palace, which was described by early Arab historians but whose precise location had long been unknown, according to Tel Aviv University, whose Institute of Archaeology led the recent excavations. Archaeologists dug up the site in the early 1950s but identified it as the ruins of an ancient synagogue, a
theory that was questioned in 2002 by a University of Chicago expert who identified the site as that of the alSinnabra palace. The latest excavations and research by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem confirmed the site was that of the palace where the Umayyad rulers would spend the winter months. Among the caliphs who used the palace was Abd al-Malik, who initiated construction of the Dome of the Rock at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound which is Islam’s third holiest site after Makkah and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
- Al Arabiya
Saudi Arabia eyes overseas farmland investments
Saudi Arabia wants to secure supplies for sugar, rice, wheat, malt and fodder with farmland investments overseas, its agricultural minister said in remarks published last month. Gulf Arab countries, heavily reliant on food imports, have been buying farmland in developing nations to ensure food security after a spike in food prices. Top Opec oil exporter Saudi Arabia, which abandoned its wheat cultivation programme two years ago due to dwindling water resources, has emerged as a major buyer of wheat from global markets and is also trying, with the help of private Saudi investors, to secure
farmland in Africa and elsewhere. “The goal (of investments) is to support supply of main goods which cannot be produced locally like rice and sugar or which requires a lot of water in production like wheat, malt and fodder,” Fahad Abdul-Rahman Balghunaim told daily al-Watan. Saudi Arabia also wanted to secure fish and livestock, he said, adding that the investments were all long-term plans. The government has urged companies to invest in farm projects abroad. In April, Riyadh set up a company with capital of 3bn Saudi riyals ($800mn) to invest in farmland abroad,
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I April 2010
Al-Aqsa Mosque still closed to Palestinians
Israel police have maintained restrictions on access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for the fourth straight day. Israeli police have been preventing men under 50 from entering the mosque since. The compound mosque is Islam’s third holiest site. This comes as Israel extended a lockdown on the occupied West Bank. There have been several clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops both in Jerusalem al-Quds and the occupied West Bank in recent days. Tensions have spiraled following Israel’s announcement that it plans to construct 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in mostly Arab East Jerusalem al-Quds. Israel occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds in 1967 and annexed the area in a move not recognized internationally. Press TV
focusing on wheat, rice, sugar and soybeans. State-owned Saudi Industrial Development Fund is granting financing facilities to firms exploring agricultural investments abroad. Several Saudi firms also launched farmland investment abroad ranging from Indonesia to Ethiopia. Balghunaim said investing in farmland was no land-grabbing as described by some media outlets. “The initiative... to invest in farmland production abroad has no political goals,” he said, adding that host countries were also benefiting from the investments. - Arab News
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Yousuf quits international cricket
Former captain Mohammad Yousuf has announced his retirement from international cricket in protest at a ban imposed on him by the Pakistan Cricket Board. On the recommendation of an inquiry committee set up to probe reasons for Pakistan’s woeful performances against Australia earlier this year, Yousuf was banned from all international cricket for an indefinite period. Pakistan had lost all nine international matches on their tour of Australia and Yousuf had led the team in seven of those matches, including three Tests. The inquiry committee had found Yousuf guilty of being involved in infighting during the tour and of indiscipline. But Yousuf has refuted those charges. ”I have received a letter from the PCB suggesting that my presence in the team is harmful for the team and
so I announce my retirement from international cricket,” Yousuf said. ”I thank fans around the world, all the senior players and family members for supporting me throughout my 12year career.
”I have always played for my country and if my playing is harmful for the team then I don’t want to play,” he said. - Asian Image
UN human rights chief urges action on football racism
Football authorities must punish those guilty of racism, the UN human rights chief said. Navi Pillay also noted that the upcoming World Cup in South Africa offered an opportunity to review the problem in sport. “On occasions, rich clubs and rich national bodies have escaped with derisory fines of a few thousand dollars after serious racist incidents during matches,” Ms Pillay noted in a statement. “I urge FIFA, UEFA and national
football authorities everywhere to back their strong rhetoric with serious and consistent disincentives, including stadium bans, and point deductions,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Ms Pillay noted the symbolism of the next World Cup in South Africa, as it was a country which suffered under ‘institutionalised racism’ for years. In addition, it was also in the South African township of Sharpeville where dozens of protestors demonstrating in 1960 against the apartheid regime
were killed by the South African police. The incident led to March 21 being named as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Ms Pillay noted that the move to eradicate racism in sports had come a long way, and it was now common to see players from all ethnic backgrounds playing on the same pitch. However, racial minorities were still ‘disturbingly under-represented at the managerial level,’ she noted.
Etiquettes of the Mobile Phone
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Islam has never been opposed to advancement. However, some advancements are such that together with their benefits come many harms. Whilst mobile technology and the mobile phone in particular has revolutionised the way we live, it is important that we utilise such technology appropriately. In The Masjid When attending the masjid one should switch off his mobile. Failure to do so will result in one being disrespectful to the house of Allah as well being a means of disturbance to others if the phone were to ring. It is prudent not to even leave the phone in vibration mode. In this
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situation if the phone were to go off during salaah, not only will it divert the phone owner’s attention it will also disturb the person next to him. Many people immediately after the completion of salaah check their phones for possible missed calls or messages. This shows that although one was physically standing in the court of Allah mentally he was elsewhere. Thus we should switch our phones off before entering the masjid, and until we leave, not pay attention towards them. Free Minutes We all know about the amount of free minutes that are available on various
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contracts and the craze of gathering and using many minutes as possible. Just because we have a contract which gives us 500 minutes free talk time does not necessarily mean that we have to use all of these 500 minutes before the end of the month. Why should we talk unnecessarily and waste the precious minutes of our life for the sake of finishing off the free minutes on our phone. Text Messages One should not forward every text message to everyone immediately. One should first think if the message is correct Islamically and should also ponder whether it is appropriate for the person you are sending it to.
I April 2010 For example if the recipient is a senior one should ensure that the words are respectful A trend nowadays is to send Eid and Jumuah greetings via text message. However, more often than not the story or phrase used as part of the message is not authentic. In such a case one inadvertently becomes a means of propagating something which is concocted. Whenever one sends a text message it is prudent to write one’s name at the end of the text. This is important because it is possible that the person you are texting has not saved your number on his mobile. As a result he will be confused when he receives the text for he will not know who the sender is.
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Ring Tones We should make sure that we have an appropriate ring tone on our mobile phone. To keep a musical ring tone is haram as the playing of music, or being a means of it being played is a sin. It is quite unfortunate that even whilst performing tawaaf in front of the Ka’bah, or whilst presenting salaam to the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi
wasallam, peoples phone’s ring causing the sanctity of these sacred places to be tainted. Many people have the Adhaan and Qur’aan recitation as ring tones on their mobile phones. This practice, while well intentioned, is not correct. The purpose of the Adhaan is not to inform us that someone is phoning us. Likewise the Qur’aan was not revealed to serve us as an alert tone. How Many Rings If when ringing someone one finds that the phone cuts off after a few rings or diverts to an answering machine, then the caller may try again. One should retry a maximum of three times for it may be that the person was busy and as he approached the phone it stopped ringing and thus he was unable to answer. However, there are some phones that do not divert or cut-off and keep ringing. If that is the case then the caller should let it continue ringing for a while, and then consider it sufficient to put the phone down. By not answering this indicates that the person is either busy or away from the phone. - In Shaykh’s Company
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The Fig: The powerful superfruit The fig is the second most potent and researched superfruit. Figs originated in the Middle East, but they are currently cultivated in the Mediterranean basin and they have spread to other parts of the world. They are appreciated in Africa, the Middle East, the US and Asian countries for their rich taste, nutritional value, and medicinal properties which maintain skin and treat its imbalances and also how they affect digestive disorders. Due to its density of essential nutrients, figs are considered a wholesome food in famine-stricken regions. The food industry seems to value the fruit’s benefits as well. Aside from being consumed whole, fresh or dry, it has become a popular ingredient in many manufactured food items. It is found in snack bars, cereals, fruit leathers, and bakery goods and is added to smoothies, cereals, and yogurt. Figs offer a wealth of nutrients, which are important to maintain health. They are rich in protein, vitamins A, Bs, C, E and K, essential minerals, prebiotic (soluble) and insoluble fiber, and omega-3 essential fats (alphalinolenic and linolenic acids in the seeds), which benefit the blood and vascular system, thus promoting heart health. Their natural sugars and nutrients boost energy and immunity. Figs contain a variety of carotenoids, anthocyanins, polyphenols and the fiber in the skin of the fruit, more than the pulp, results in antioxidant benefits. The darker the figs are, the greater amount of phytocompounds.
Dry figs are more practical to buy and store than fresh ones because they have a longer shelf life and more uses in cooking and snack recipes. They add more nutritional value to snacks, dishes, salads, cereals, cakes, and desserts. Figs have gone through significant research in the recent years. They are still undergoing more exploration due to their potential effects on bacterial and viral infections, inflammation, pain, skin problems, cardiovascular, digestive, and metabolic disorders, malnutrition, immune deficiencies, and even cancer. Many of us fear eating figs, because they are calorie-dense, thus we forgo their wealth of nutrients. Their sugars are natural and their vitamins, minerals, and omega fats are even good for diabetics, but in very limited quantities. Their calories are healthy and supply sustainable energy for schoolchildren, sportsmen and athletes when combined with nuts. They are healthy substitutes for sweets. Four figs make a helping. If you have diabetes or are overweight, reduce this quota within the allowed portion, but do not deprive your body of the plethora of nutrients and healthful phytochemicals in the fruit. According to Heinerman’s “Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs”, figs have many medicinal uses in traditional medicine. When cut and soaked in boiling water, they make a soothing drink for sore throats, which is also good for the lungs. More interesting information in Heinerman’s book is that scientist
Jonathan Hartwell in his five-year survey said that “figs were a useful treatment for different kinds of cancer.” Japanese scientists also found a compound called benzaldehyde in steam-distilled figs, which acts against tumors on cancer patients, resulting in higher chances of recovery. In the Holy Qur’an, God began surat Al-Tin, “The Fig,” by swearing by the fruit: “By the fig and the olive...” Allah gives us cues about the importance of the mentioned fruits or foods in His Holy Book. Look closely and think about the other foods such as olives, grapes, pomegranates, dates, onions, garlic, legumes, gourds, whole grains, fish, honey, etc..., which were named in the Qur’an. Have they not been auded as superfoods recently for their health benefits? Figs are also mentioned frequently in the Bible. Recent scientific evidence points to figs’ influence on human health and effectiveness against disease. Because scientific facts and clinical and medical researches support their intake, we should include superfruits in our diets in order to maintain and enhance health. Remember, whole superfruits come with other bonuses. They happen to be appealing to the palate, quenching to thirst, replenishing to energy, and satisfying to the sweet tooth. Don’t hesitate. Start today! N.B. Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural! - By Mariam Alireza
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A Comparative Study of Ideologies Part Six
Every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice; and thirdly, the duty of erecting and maintaining certain public works and certain public institutions, which it can never be for the interest of any individual, or small number of individuals, to erect and maintain, because the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, though it may frequently do much more than repay it to a great society. (The Wealth of Nations. Book IV Chapter IX). These restricted functions of the State gave a free hand to exploiting employers and capitalists , and the maldistribution of wealth divided society into, two wafting camps. The gulf between the haves and have-nots widened, without the State stirring to think out any remedies. Against the strikes of labour the State exercised its police functions. Gradually the statesmen and humanitarian thinkers began to urge for the extension of the functions of the State. The first remedy was a revised system of
taxation for a partial levelling of social inequalities. The capitalistic States began to broaden the sphere of their activities. Housing, unemployment insurance, health insurance: old-age pensions and many other humane measures were gradually proposed and to some extent adopted by some countries, until we come to the great Beveridge scheme which has chalked out a comprehensive programme for a Welfare State. These trends are a clear proof of how world, by a long process of trial and error, is gradually coming round to see the rationality and righteousness of Prophet Muhammad’s concept of the State. We have already stated the view of Islam about interest. He was insistent that interest must be wiped out of all economic transactions. Now the great economists of the West are coming round to this very view rather hesitatingly, that banking must be nationalised and interest must be controlled and Keyness exhorted the States to revive moral and religious sanctions in this respect. But, even now, these economists think that ‘the absolute abolition of interest is not
a practical proposition; it has only to be controlled and put at a very low level to serve the purposes of production. Islam allowed the owner of capital to become a partner with the productive worker, so that capital is indissolubly linked to production and the vicissitudes of trade are shared by both. When interest is divorced from productivity, all the risk is taken by the borrower, while the lender is assured by the State that he could legitimately demand his pound of flesh. In the Islamic system there is capital levy of Zakat on capital that is lying idle. Islam wants production and trade to prosper and that explains all its strong injunctions against hoarding. A part of the hoarded wealth is taken away by the State to be spent on social welfare, particularly to help the poorer classes. A Welfare State has to encourage the production of wealth by human labour and exploitation of natural resources; but it has also to be vigilant that wealth circulates in the whole social organism and does not cause plethoras in the whole social organism and does not cause plethora and congestion in one part and anaemia in the other.
I April 2010 The Qur’an warns, “See that wealth does not circulate amongst the rich, only.” Unearned wealth accumulates mostly by interest and by the hoarding of surpluses. It also accumulates inequitable laws of inheritance or by permission to will away the whole property to a single recipient. Granting the right of ownership and private property. Islam created all necessary safeguards against undue concentration of wealth on the one hand and poverty on the other. All great religions have always laid great emphasis on charity and denounced the ungenerous and callous rich, but it was Islam which grappled successfully and in a practical manner with the problem of the equitable distribution of wealth, knowing human nature, is realised that mere abstract moral exhortation would not do, unless the economic structure of society is remoulded by necessary legislation. Religious belief and its verbal profession is not enough. Good people in the Qur’an are described as those who believe and do good deeds and among the good deeds charity is emphasized as the most essential virtue. Then charity is classified as voluntary charity and compulsory charity. About voluntary charity if is said that good men do not keep more than they need; they never hoard but part with their surplus. Zakat, the State-organised tax for the relief of distress of all kinds, is one of the main pillars of Islam and is often mentioned in the Qur’an along with prayers with the warning that the prayers of those who do not give Zakat or charity are ineffective and unacceptable to God. Looking at the economic life around Him. The Prophet defined, in a number of cases, as to what should be considered as constituting surplus capital and to what extent it should be taxed. If the economic structure of society undergoes fundamental changes, the details of the scheme maybe readjusted to suit the circumstances, always keeping in view the spirit and purpose of the scheme. According to Islam, hoarded surpluses create moral and social poison by demoralising the poor, destitute and helpless, thereby the whole social organism becomes diseased. Zakat means purity as well as growth and blessing. A society that would observe it would become pure
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and prosperous because genuine prosperity is nothing but social health. Growth and efficiency of the economic life depend on it. It’s a pivot of the Muslim public finance. The Prophet was afraid of superfluous wealth as well as of poverty. He described the abolition of poverty as one of the chief aims of Islam. Many another religion has exalted poverty to the pitch of spirituality; this attitude was the result of a confusion between poverty and the simple life. The simple life was praised by the Prophet and was practised by him, but about poverty he prayed to God to keep it. away from human beings, because, as he said. ‘it darkness a man’s face in both the worlds, and makes him almost lose his faith.’ He was equally, rather more, afraid of superfluous wealth. He is reported to have said. ‘O ye Muslims, I am more afraid of wealth among you than poverty.’ After him, when rich war booty arrived from Persia and was piled before Khalifa Omar , his eyes were dimmed with tears. Someone remarked. ‘O Chief of the Muslims, it is an occasion to rejoice and not to shed tears.’ To this the Khalifa replied. I am afraid, it is danger for Islam.’ This remark should open the eyes of those ignorant and hostile critics of Islam who say that love of booty constituted the main urge of the early Muslim warriors. The institution of Zakat , as the pivotal point of the Islamic Welfare State, demands that we devote a little more space to the clarification of it. The Prophet said. “Your Islam can find perfection only in the giving of Zakat . Pay Zakat out of your property, this will purify you and will enable you to do your duty by those related to you. Be careful of the rights of the beggar, the neighbour, and the indigent, and do not indulge in extravagance.” A nation that withheld Zakat courted dearth and indigence.” “Without Zakat neither faith nor prayer is acceptable to Allah.” , No State has the right to be called an Islamic State if it disregards the injunctions about Zakat , because, according to Islam, a State has no other purpose except social welfare and social welfare is impossible without Zakat . If the right of private initiative and private ownership is granted
SPECIAL FEATURE I 25 as an essential factor in individual liberty, and if the system is left to itself without corrective taxation, some men are bound to acquire and hoard more than they need and others will be left destitute; therefore the mode of earning and the distribution of wealth must be controlled by the State. After the political success of Islam, some Arabian tribes had hastened to enter the fold of the Islamic State without having thoroughly understood and imbibed the spirit of Islam. About such people it is said in the Qur’an that when they profess that they have acquired faith, they should be told that they have only submitted to the power of Islam: faith is a matter of deeper realisation. After the death of the Holy Prophet , a number of such tribes refused to pay Zakat and started a no-tax compaign. The successors of the Prophet were in a quandary. What to do with such people who say that are Muslims believing in the Unity of God and offering prayers. How could a Khalifa wage war against the believers? This was initially the view of even such a strong-willed man as Omar . But Abu Bakr , the first successor of the Prophet , had a clearer vision of Islam in this respect. His opinion was that faith was incomplete without Zakat . Offering prayers but taking no part in and making no sacrifices for public welfare is a virtual negation of faith. He said he would wage war on those who refused to pay this tax. Omar too praised him for his superior vision and his firm decision, and a bloody war was actually waged for this purpose. It is a pity that, sometimes later, the compulsory tax which formed the backbone of the Welfare State, and which had to be collected by the State and distributed by the State, was made voluntary and left to the conscience of the giver. The Western laissez-faire economics had trusted the enlightened self-interest of individuals to create an economic equilibrium, and the world now knows the chaos created by this misreading of the human instincts. Self-interest did not prove to be so enlightened that private and social interests would coincide by any providential arrangement. The Muslim States, that trusted the Muslim conscience about the Zakat . were similarly mistaken. By withdrawing it from the State control, surplus capital did not flow
We gratefully acknowledge and thank the Institute of Islamic Culture for permission to reproduce Chapter 13 from his book “ Ideology of Islam “ by Khalifa Abdul Hakim. Continued next month
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