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Government plan for secret inquests Issue: 20
November 2009
Ministers vow to press ahead with controversial proposal despite Lords defeat
The inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot in error by police at Stockwell Tube station, could have been held in secret under the new rules. Plans to introduce secret inquiries into controversial deaths from which the public and bereaved families could be banned are to be pushed through the House of Commons by the Government. Last month ministers suffered a humiliating defeat for the proposals in the House of Lords, but insisted that they were “clear” that “harmful material” must not be made public, and would reintroduce the measures in the Commons. The new powers would allow them to turn inquests like that of Jean Charles de Menezes or those involving the deaths of British soldiers into secret hearings. Civil rights campaigners, peers and MPs attacked the Government for trying to sneak through an “abuse of power” which struck at the heart of Britain’s ancient inquest system. Baroness Miller, the Liberal Democrats’home affairs spokeswoman in the Lords, whose party tabled an amendment which succeeded in removing the secret inquiry clause, said that the Government had suffered a “self-inflicted” defeat.
She said: “Inquiries are a thing of the state and inquests are the thing of citizens. The Government could have come up with the correct conditions to guard against secrecy without setting up a parallel inquest system. It’s not a good argument to say, ‘But if you knew what we knew you wouldn’t object.’” The measure, buried in the Coroners and Justice Bill, gives the Lord Chancellor, currently Jack Straw, absolute discretion to order a secret inquiry in place of a public inquest. It could mean that inquests that might expose the negligence of government or a public body or embarrass ministers or foreign allies could be censored.
It comes less than six months after Mr Straw dropped proposals to hold sensitive inquests behind closed doors without juries from the Bill following widespread opposition. But the new plan has been quietly added to the Bill, in the shape of a provision allowing for an inquest to be suspended and a secret inquiry held in its place. The Government says that the change is aimed at allowing inquests to go ahead when sensitive information needs to be considered by the inquiry. The Government pledged to overturn the Lib Dem amendment.
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I LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
the Passion -
Passion Islam
I November 2009
By Majed Iqbal
Hillary’s visit to Pakistan“We don’t really trust your country!”
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton completed her three day tour of Pakistan in the last week of October attempting to win the hearts and minds of a population which has become instrumental to Americas War on Terror. Many Pakistani commentators dubbed her visit as a ‘charm offensive’ to re-build that ‘trust deficit’; a long overdue initiative to ease tensions with the Pakistani masses that have been having second and third thoughts about their ‘use and abuse’ partnership with the US since its inception in 2001. The tour saw concentrated efforts in dialoguing directly with the public on a range of issues which the people of Pakistan were thinking about on Pakistan- US relations. Hillary Clinton’s “people to people” diplomacy -- with journalists, students and common people, which included town hall meetings in a “no holds” barred question and answer session at a university in Lahore were part of a new packaging. This was possibly an approach to rebuild that trust in an open and transparent way, a somewhat ‘revolutionary’ step away from more clandestine approaches with Government ministers and opposition figureheads to manipulate political will. Clinton, who professes deep personal affection for Pakistan and its people, was aiming to be cautiously optimistic in her visit to maybe change as many hearts and minds among Pakistanis. “I’m going to try as hard as I can. But ultimately, we have to have actions between the two of us. Words are not enough,” she said at a women’s gathering. Clinton got straight to the point; expressing disbelief that no-one in
authority knew where al Qaeda leaders were hiding out. “I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn’t get them if they really wanted to,” she told a group of newspaper editors during a meeting in Lahore. However Hillary Clinton realised that it wasn’t as simple as asking a question like this which in her mind should have stoked these journalists and editors to use their positions in media to pressurise the government to do more for America and its fight on the war on terror. She soon realised this on her tour where every time she tried to win over Pakistanis during with her charm, people fired back a polite but firm message “We don’t really trust your country”. No matter how hard Clinton tried to reassure audiences in Lahore and Islamabad with talk of providing economic aid where it’s needed most, Pakistanis seized on her visit as the perfect moment to lash out at a U.S. government they perceive as arrogant, domineering and insensitive to their plight. At a televised town hall meeting in Islamabad, the capital, on Friday, a woman in a mostly female audience characterized U.S. drone missile strikes on suspected terrorist targets in north western Pakistan as de facto acts of terrorism. A day earlier in Lahore, a college student asked Clinton why every student who visits the U.S. is viewed as a terrorist The opinions Clinton heard weren’t the voices of radical clerics, insurgents, Taliban supporters, extremists or politicians with anti-U.S. agendas. Some of the most biting criticisms came from well-mannered university students and respected, seasoned journalists, a reflection of the breadth of dissatisfaction Pakistanis have with U.S. policy toward their country. In those voices what rang clear was a sense that Pakistan was paying a heavy price for America’s “war on terror.” “You had one 9/11, and we are having daily 9/11s in Pakistan,” Asma Shirazi, a journalist with ARY TV, told Clinton during the Islamabad town hall meeting. Clinton’s visit came at a time when Pakistanis’ suspicions about U.S. intentions in their country are at an all-
time high. A five-year, $7.5-billion aid package to Pakistan recently signed into law by President Obama stoked much of the animosity. Measures in the legislation aimed at ensuring the money isn’t misspent have been perceived by Pakistanis as levers that Washington can use to exert control over their country. The reactions of the ordinary citizen of Pakistan of Americas relationship with Pakistan may have surprised US officials on the tour. This was not the expected outcome. The very people dissenting against America should have been the ones praising America’s campaign in Waziristan, they should have been supporting the drone attacks on ‘insurgents’, they should have been cheering on and championing the arrival of Private US security firms in Pakistan like Blackwater. t was these people who America wanted on their side- after all they were the moderates. They were the ones who hate the extremists. America was cleansing Pakistan of these extremists. So logically, my enemy is your enemy? Unfortunately for America, this has proven wrong. People in Pakistan have clearly voiced that turbulence in their country and the weekly blasts and bombings in their country were due to American interference in the nations politics. What remains more questionable is silence on any discussion by Hillary on the Pakistani government and the “unstinting support” for US operations in Pakistan, a term which was coined by Musharraf in 2001. Both Dictatorships and Democracies in Pakistan have seen strengthening relations between the countries despite the master–slave set up and the uproar against this by the Pakistani public. There was complete silence of America on Musharraf’s Rule so long as he executed American Foreign Policy designs in the region. This continues with Zardari today in the Af-pak strategy, a war which has used the Pakistani army to kill its own citizens and leave millions displaced from the war-torn regions. What Hillary saw, heard and felt in her tour was not just directed at America, but to all the Political parties in Pakistan and the present Government who profess to have the interests of the nation at heart.
Write to: Editor, Passion Islam, PO Box 159, Batley, West Yorkshire, WF17 1AD or email: info@passionislam.com - www.passionislam.com Views expressed in the Passion column are of the contributers and not Necessarily of Passion Islam
This Magazine contains Ayaat of the Qur’an and Hadith of the Prophet (SAW), please ensure you handle it with respect & care - Sukran
CIA agents jailed over Muslim cleric kidnap Passion Islam
I November 2009
An Italian judge has convicted 23 Americans - all but one of them CIA agents - and two Italian secret agents of the 2003 kidnap of a Muslim cleric. The agents were accused of abducting Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, from Milan and sending him to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured, the BBC reports. The trial, which began in June 2007, is the first involving the CIA’s so-called “extraordinary rendition” programme. Three Americans and five Italians were acquitted by the court in Milan. The Americans were all tried in their absence after the United States refused to extradite them. The CIA’s Milan station chief at the time, Robert Lady, was jailed for eight years, while the other 22 Americans convicted were sentenced to five
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years in prison. One was not identified by prosecutors as a CIA agent. The Italian agents were jailed for three years.
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Prosecutors said Abu Omar was taken as part of a series of extraordinary renditions carried out by the CIA - when terror suspects were moved between countries without any public legal process. They told the court Abu Omar had been kidnapped on a Milan street in 2003 and flown to Germany, then Egypt, where he was held for years until being released without charge. Judge Oscar Magi acquitted the CIA chief for Rome, Jeffrey Castelli, saying he was protected by state secrecy laws, as were the former head of Italy’s military intelligence agency, Nicolo Pollari, and his deputy, Marco Mancini. Mr Pollari, who resigned over the affair, told the court this year that documents showing he had no involvement in the kidnapping were classified under secrecy laws.
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CIA at work in UK Anti - Terror Chief tells MPs 4
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LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
Passion Islam
I November 2009
Details have emerged of a private briefing between the government’s most senior counter-terrorism official and MPs in which he warned of the dangers of radicalisation among Muslim prisoners and admitted that CIA agents were operating in the UK. Charles Farr, the head of the Home Office’s office of security and counter-terrorism, told MPs the 8,000 Muslim inmates in England and Wales represented “a very significant group”. “We know that once they get inside prison there is a danger that they will be radicalised … there is
an additional risk that, for entirely legitimate reasons, people can get converted in prison to Islam. We are very aware of the risks,” he said. On the issue of Islamist radicalisation in prison, he revealed his unit had to help a cash-strapped prison service find enough money to develop a counter-terrorist programme, including the creation of an intelligence infrastructure. That unit, he said, had made some inroads in tackling extremism in prisons. “It is not yet a success story but it is a story of real progress,” he said, and added: “When they get back into the community what are we going to do about that?” During the in camera evidence session to a sub-committee of the Commons home affairs select committee, Farr also confirmed there were CIA agents operating in Britain and that Britain had a “very close” relationship with the US intelligence community. Asked if CIA agents and other
“outside organisations” were working in Britain, Farr replied: “Most certainly, yes. Are they declared? Yes. They are in regular dialogue with our agencies here. The cornerstone of this is the American relationship. “Why? For two reasons, I think, above all: because of the huge American capability that can be brought to bear on counter-terrorism, and has been since 9/11. “Secondly … because people who pose a threat to this country are six hours away from the eastern seaboard, something which the Americans are acutely aware of, as are we, and therefore take a very close interest in.” Farr, who rarely appears publicly also said the Home Office’s research, communications and information unit, which advises on the nature of the terror threat, only has a staff of 35 from across government to challenge the output of 4,500 “incessant” Islamist terrorist websites around the world. www.passionislam.com
People with African and Asian names face discrimination by employers when they apply for jobs, according to a study published. Thousands of fake CVs were sent to companies across the country by researchers using three different identities to discover how jobseekers with different names were treated. The three fake identities - Nazia Mahmood, Mariam Namagembe and Alison Taylor - were given similar experience and qualifications. Researchers from the National Centre for Social Research, commissioned by the Department for work and Pension (DWP), found the applicant who appeared to be white had to send nine applications before being offered an interview. The other candidates had to send 16 applications before receiving a similar response.
Applications were sent for 987 vacancies between November 2008 and May 2009. The jobs including accountants, IT staff, care workers and sales assistants, were based in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Manchester. The report found there was no plausible explanation for the difference in treatment other than racial discrimination. Employment minister Jim Knight said: “This research clearly shows that some employers are discriminating when it comes to choosing staff. This has no place in a modern society and racial discrimination cannot be allowed to continue. ”We introduced laws to stop discrimination at work and strengthened them in 2000. We also introduced new diversity and equality requirements
in DWP contracts with suppliers. Employees can use the Race Relations Act to take employers to a tribunal if they are being treated unfairly and they will also get support and advice from the European Human Rights Commission to do so. ”We are determined to stop this scourge on society - the Equality Bill will strengthen our hand and we are already preparing to publish specific plans for dealing with discrimination in the workplace later this year.”
Fake CV tests shows employer racism
Cambridge University to allow wearing of burkas
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Passion Islam
Cambridge University is to allow female Muslim students to wear burkas under their mortar boards at graduation ceremonies. The university has a strict dress code for the prestigious events at the city’s Senate House building which all
students must adhere to to be allowed to graduate. On the institution’s website, students are warned the code “is strictly enforced at ceremonies, and if you do not observe it, you may not be permitted to graduate on a particular occasion”. But the stringent laws were first challenged in 2005 when Scottish students demanded to be allowed to wear kilts. Cambridge University issued a clarification to say certain items of national dress, military uniform and religious garments — including the
I November 2009
burka — were allowed. A spokesman confirmed burkas could be worn under mortar boards but no one had requested it yet. He said: “Religious dress and cultural observations are allowed at graduation. “If a student has a religious or cultural obligation to wear something then we absolutely respect that.” Ahsan Mohammed, chairman of the Newmarket mosque committee, praised the decision as “very sensible”.
www.passionislam.com
Government launches scheme to help Ethnic Minority Women become Councillors Maria Eagle, Deputy Minister for Women and Equality launched the first national mentoring programme designed to increase the numbers of black, Asian and minority ethnic women (BAME) becoming local councillors. BAME women are starkly under-represented in politics at every level. Local politics is often seen as a first step to national politics. BAME women account for less than one per cent of all local councillors in England, despite making up nearly five per cent of the population. To fully reflect society, the number of women BAME councillors would have to
rise nearer to 1000. The ground-breaking mentoring programme, commissioned by the Government Equalities Office and run by Operation Black Vote, will provide development and training to 60 BAME women in up to 30 local authorities with the aim of seeing these women take the next steps into public life. Hamira Khan is 30 years old and will be shadowing a councillor in Glasgow as part of the mentoring programme. Ms Khan said: “I wish to inspire and encourage members of the BME community to participate in our democratic system”.
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Project doesn’t spy on Muslims, Home Office Passion Islam
I November 2009
The UK Home Office denied that it was using a 140 million pounds-ayear anti-extremism project to “spy” on innocent young Muslims. The Institute of Race Relations said “the Prevent scheme” had been used “to establish one of the most elaborate systems of surveillance ever seen in Britain”. In a highly-critical report, it said teachers and youth, community and cultural workers were increasingly angry at being pressured to share information as a condition of receiving funding. Among the details being sought were political opinions, mental health conditions and sex lives as well as criminal records and evidence of alleged offences, it suggested. The institute said there was also strong evidence that “a significant part” of the programme involved “the embedding of counter-terrorism police officers within the delivery of local services”. “It is entirely appropriate that the police and intelligence services have placed a number of Muslim individuals under surveillance,” the report, partly based on six months of interviews with community workers, concluded.
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“It is also right that channels should be made available for other professionals such as youth workers and teachers to provide information to the police if there are reasons to believe that an individual is involved in criminality.” But it went on: “What is at issue is whether professionals providing non-policing local services, such as youth workers and teachers, should be expected to routinely provide information to the counterterrorist police not just on individuals who might be ‘at risk’ of committing a criminal offence but also on the political and religious opinions of young people, and the dynamics of the local Muslim community as a whole.” Turning public services into “instruments of surveillance” risked
alienating young people from the very institutions best placed to meet the stated aim of the project to keep them out of the clutches of extremism, it suggested. Among other findings were that the funding system effectively labelled the entire Muslim population a “suspect community” and that the scheme fostered social divisions. A Home Office spokesman said: “Any suggestion that Prevent is about spying is simply wrong. Prevent is about working with communities to protect vulnerable individuals and address the root causes of radicalisation.” There are around 1.6 Muslims in the UK, the majority from the Indian sub-continent.
Police said: “These images consist of photos and footage stored by event with no names or other searchable information attached to it. “Material is stored in case it is needed for use in civil actions against police, complaints against officers and criminal proceedings. In line with national guidelines for the management of police information, we are in the process of reviewing the material we hold.” But Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs
spokesman told the Financial Times newspaper today that the database was an example of the police, “tarring the innocent and the guilty with the same brush”. Human rights and civil liberties specialist Hugh Tomlinson, lawyer of “Matrix law Chambers” told the newspaper: “We don’t know what databases are held - and we don’t know what procedures are in place to make sure they are accurate and up to date.”
Police protester database “Tarring innocent”
Concerns were raised about a police database containing around 1,500 photographs of protesters. The Scotland Yard file includes pictures taken by officers of those attending demonstrations, some of whom may never have been arrested or convicted of a crime. Police say they hold the information in case a complaint is made against an officer and to aid criminal prosecutions. A spokesman for the Metropolitan
Completely Spooked Passion Islam
I November 2009
A report published by the Institute of Race Relations finds that the government’s Prevent programme for tackling extremism fosters division, mistrust and alienation. Entitled Spooked: how not to prevent violent extremism, the report suggests that the Prevent programme has been used to establish one of the most elaborate systems of surveillance ever seen in Britain. Moreover, there are strong reasons for thinking that the Prevent progamme, in effect, constructs the Muslim population as a ‘suspect community’, fosters social divisions among Muslims themselves and between Muslims and others, encourages tokenism, facilitates violations of privacy and professional norms of confidentiality, discourages local democracy and is counterproductive in reducing the risk of political violence. The result of a six-month research project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the report draws on existing policy and academic work, freedom of information requests, a roundtable discussion and thirty-two interviews with Prevent programme workers and managers in local authorities, members of local Prevent boards, voluntary sector workers engaged in Prevent work and community workers familiar with local Prevent work. The government describes its Preventing Violent Extremism programme (known simply as ‘Prevent’)
LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
as ‘a community-led approach to tackling violent extremism’. It believes that by selectively directing resources at ‘moderate’ Muslim organisations to carry out community development and ‘anti-radicalisation’ work, it can empower them to unite around ‘shared British values’ to isolate the ‘extremists’. With hundreds of millions of pounds of funding, the Prevent programme has come to redefine the relationship between government and around two million British citizens who are Muslim. The report’s key findings are that: > Prevent-funded voluntary sector organisations and workers in local authorities are becoming increasingly wary of the expectations on them to provide the police with information on young Muslims and their religious and political opinions. > The atmosphere promoted by Prevent is one in which to make radical criticisms of the government is to risk losing funding and facing isolation as an ‘extremist’, while those organisations which support the government are rewarded > Local authorities have been pressured to accept Prevent funding in direct proportion to the numbers of Muslims in their area - in effect, constructing the Muslim population as a ‘suspect community’. > Prevent decision-making lacks transparency and local accountability. > Prevent has undermined progressive elements within the
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earlier community cohesion agenda and absorbed from it those parts which are most problematic. > The current emphasis of Prevent on depoliticising young people and restricting radical dissent is actually counter-productive because it strengthens the hands of those who say democracy is pointless. Author of the report, Arun Kundnani, says that: ‘The stated aim of the government’s counterterrorist strategy is to enable people to “go about their lives freely and with confidence”. The question we pose in this report is whether freedom and confidence for the majority can be enabled by imposing a lack of freedom and confidence on a minority - in this case, the Muslim population of Britain.’
New Tory book in support of the Human Rights Act Conservative parliamentary candidate Jesse Norman and political columnist Peter Oborne launched ‘Churchill’s Legacy: The Conservative case for the Human Rights Act’. The short book, published by Liberty in support of the Common Values campaign, recommends that the Conservatives reclaim their historic position as a
party of British liberty and the rule of law by dropping their opposition to the Human Rights Act. Peter Oborne said “Like many Conservatives I was sceptical of the Human Rights Act – until I read it and started to think about it. It soon became clear that it was a near perfect expression of Tory values.”
The authors say that the Human Rights Act is ‘an impeccably Conservative document’ and based on ancient conservative beliefs. They dismiss claims that the Act cedes power to a foreign court, insinuates a left-wing agenda into the British legal system and compromises national security.
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Most Britons still against UK role in Afghan war Passion Islam
I November 2009
The number of Britons opposed to the country’s involvement in military operations in Afghanistan has increased, a new poll shows. According to the opinion poll published by BBC at the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, out of the 1,010
LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS
people polled, 56 percent were against Britain’s armed involvement in Afghanistan. The number represents an increase, compared to previous figures gathered in 2006. Currently, Britain has around 9,150 troops in Afghanistan.
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They have suffered heavy losses during the war, especially in the Helmand province, where they are mainly based. Their latest fatality was a soldier killed in the war-torn country on Monday, taking the overall death toll to 220 since the US-led invasion began.
£380 per min will be spent tracking your every online click An astonishing £380 a minute will be spent on surveillance in a massive expansion of the Big Brother state. The £200million-a-year sum will give officials access to details of every internet click made by every citizen - on top of the email and telephone records already available. It is a 1,700 per cent increase on the cost of the current surveillance regime. LibDem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne described the sum as ‘eye-watering’. ‘There is already enough concern at the level of Government snooping,’ he said. ‘In an era of tough spending choices, it cannot be a justified response to the problems we face as a country to lavish millions of pounds a year on state spying. “The increase in money spent on tapping phones and emails is all the more baffling when Britain is still one of the few countries not to allow intercept evidence in court, even in terrorist cases.’ State bodies including councils are already making one request every minute to spy on the phone records and email accounts of members of the public. The number of snooping missions carried out by police, town halls and other government departments has rocketed by 44 per cent in two years to a rate of 1,381 new cases every day. Ministers say the five-year cost of the existing regime is £55.61million, an average of £11million a year. This is paid to phone companies and service providers to meet the cost of keeping and providing private information about customers. The
cost of the new system emerged in a series of Parliamentary answers. It is to cover payments to internet service providers so they can store mountains of information about every customer for a minimum of 12 months, and set up new systems to cope. The actual content of calls and emails is not be kept - only who they were from or to, when they took place and where they were sent from. Police, security services and other public authorities can then request access to the data as part of investigations. Some 653 bodies are currently allowed access, including councils, the Financial Services Authority, the Ambulance Service and fire authorities and prison governors. The new rules allowing access
to internet records will be introduced by Parliament before the end of the year. They are known as the Intercept Modernisation Programme. Alex Deane, director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: ‘The Government is preparing to make British people pay through the nose so that they can track our movements online.’ There were 504,073 made last year to intercept email and telephone records under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. It was passed ostensibly to fight terrorism. But it has been used to spy on people suspected of putting their bins out on the wrong day, dropping litter and attempting to cheat school catchment area
US airline to pay out in flying imams case
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Passion Islam
I November 2009
U.S. Airways has agreed to pay “undisclosed damages” to because of alleged suspicious activity, a prominent rights group said. The men were removed from a Minneapolis to Phoenix flight on November 20 and questioned for five hours, sparking a protracted legal battle between the six and the airline, airport authority, U.S. Airways, the crew and several passengers. Four of the religious leaders prayed in the airport before boarding the flight, apparently prompting suspicions on the part of staff and passengers. In a statement, the imams said they were guilty only of performing “normal evening prayers.” After questioning U.S. Airways refused to allow them to take another flight home. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) hailed the settlement
as “victory for justice and civil rights.” Details of the settlement were not released, but CAIR said the case was resolved to “the satisfaction of all
parties.” U.S. Airways confirmed a settlement had been reached, but would not comment further.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sentenced a former Serb officer to 30 years in jail for the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica. Milorad Trbic, a former assistant commander for security, was found guilty of taking part in the persecution of Bosnian Muslims in the Srebrenica region as well as attempts to cover up traces of the crime. The court concluded that he was one of the senior Yugoslav officials responsible for the detention, mass execution, and burial of the victims. The presiding judge, Davorin Jukic said that Trbic had taken part in a “joint criminal enterprise” with other Serb army officers and organized the forcible transfer of Muslims from Srebrenica between July 10 and November 30, 1995. Some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in the Srebrenica genocide by Serb forces which captured the
eastern enclave on July 11, 1995. The massacre is regarded as Europe’s worst atrocity following the World War II era. At the time of the genocide the United Nations had declared Srebrenica a “safe area” and stationed 400 armed Dutch troops in the region. However the UN peacekeepers from the Netherlands did not intervene to stop the massacre, choosing to stand by and watch. Since then, human rights groups have launched attacks on the UN for its lack of intervention in Srebrenica. Bosnian Serb leader of the time Radovan Karadzic and his military chief, General Ratko Mladic, are seen as the main perpetrators of the massacre, rape and torture of thousands of women and children, and ethnic cleansing in Srebenica. After ten years on the run, Radovan Karadzic was finally caught in 2008 and handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) at The Hague. Mladic, however, still remains at large. Trbic, who also played a key role in the event, oversaw the detention of thousands of Muslims in several schools around Srebrenica, where they were kept in inhuman conditions, Jukic explained. Remains of more than 6,000 Srebrenica victims have been found in mass graves across eastern Bosnia. Up to 3,800 have been identified so far using DNA remains. Despite finding him guilty of the above charges, Jukic refrained from referring to the crimes as genocide. This upset the victims’ families who assumed that he had been acquitted of all such charges. “The sentence was a reward for him. The court might as well have set him free,” Hatidza Mehmedovic, who lost her husband and two sons in the massacre, told Reuters.
Serbian Officer gets 30 yrs over killing Muslims
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Swiss justice dept rejects ban on mosque minarets
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Chief of Switzerland’s Federal Department of Justice and Police Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said that Swiss Federal Council rejected an initiative to ban mosque minarets in Switzerland. That “contradicts with the basic values of Switzerland society’s system and constitution which grants freedom of religions,” she said. Such an initiative would jeopardize religions stability in the country, she said, adding that it violates human rights agreements ratified by the country, and so it would “defame the image of Switzerland.” Meanwhile, the Head of the Swiss Council of Religions Thomas Wipf seconded Widmer-Schlumpf, and called upon dialogue to clarify misconceptions on Islam and Muslims, and noted that responsibilities lie on the council which was established in 2006
Swiss people are to decide whether to take in the initiative and come up with a new article that bans minarets or not through elections that would be held in November Swiss Right parties which are supporting the initiative say that minarets jeopardize Europe’s “Christian values” and identity The Swiss Federal Council opposed the initiative and called upon parliament and large political parties to support its decision Around 400,00 Muslims, most of whom come from Turkey and the Balkans are living in large Swiss cities. The Annual Swiss security report hails the Muslim society in the country for shunning bigotry and extremism. Switzerland has only four minarets located in Zurich, Geneva, Winterthur, and Wengen.
The report, by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, took three years to compile, with census data from 232 countries and territories. It showed that 20% of Muslims lived in the Middle East and North
Africa. The data also showed that there were more Muslims in Germany than in Lebanon, and more in Russia than in Jordan and Libya together. Researchers analysed approximately 1,500 sources including census reports, demographic studies and general population surveys. Senior researcher Brian Grim told CNN that the overall figure was a surprise and said: “Overall, the number is higher than I expected.” The report also found that Ethiopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan. Amaney Jamal, an assistant professor of politics at Princeton University, told the AP news agency: “This whole idea that Muslims are Arabs and Arabs are Muslims is really
Passion Islam
I November 2009
1 in 4 people in world are Muslim
just obliterated by this report.” Instead the report found that more than 300 million Muslims live in countries where Islam was not the majority religion. Of the total Muslim population, 1013% are Shia Muslims and 87-90% are Sunni Muslims. Most Shias live in Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. Europe is home to 38 million Muslims - around 5% of its population with European Muslims making up slightly more than 2% of the world’s Muslim population. More than half of the 4.6 million Muslims in the Americas live in the US - however they make up just 0.8% of the population there. The Pew Forum has said the findings will lay the foundation for a forthcoming study that will look at how Muslim populations worldwide have grown and what they may look like in the future.
Bahrain votes to end contacts with Israel
Passion Islam
I November 2009
Bahrain’s Parliament approved legislation penalising contacts with Israel. “Whoever holds any communication or official talks with Israeli officials or travels to Israel will face a fine ... and/or a jail sentence of three to five years,” member of Parliament Jalal Fairooz from the Shiite Al-Wefaq bloc, an opposition group that was the driving force behind the move. “The motivation is that steps are being taken by certain countries to allow certain talks to be held with
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Israeli officials. Israeli delegates have managed to participate in events in Arab countries with no treaties with Israel.” Bahrain’s Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa wrote in the Washington Post in July that Arabs had not done enough to communicate directly with Israelis. “We believe that establishing contacts with the Zionist enemy is an offense punishable by law,” said Nasser al-Fadhallah, a conservative lawmaker.
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He said it would be “embarrassing for the government” if the bill — which will be transferred to the upper house sometime in November — is postponed or blocked because it would be obstructing the will of the Bahraini people. Bahraini officials visited Israel in July in an official capacity for the first time to collect five of their nationals Israel was deporting after seizing them on a ship bound for the Palestinian territory of Gaza, blockaded by Israel.
Iran denies ‘secret Israel talks’
Iran has denied newspaper reports that its officials held secret talks recently with their Israeli counterparts to explore the possibility of declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone. The Haaretz reported that Meirav Zafary-Odiz, of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, and Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), met several times on September 29 and 30 in Cairo, the Egyptian capital. But Ali Shirzadia, the spokesman for the Islamic Republic’s atomic energy organisation, said there was no truth in the claim. “This lie is a kind of psychological operation designed to affect the constant success of Iran’s dynamic diplomacy in the Geneva and Vienna meetings,” Shirzadia was quoted by Iran state television’s website on Thursday as saying. The Haaretz report said that the talks in Cairo were the first direct meeting between official representatives of the two countries since the fall of the Shah in 1979. The meetings were held behind
closed doors, and all participants committed to complete secrecy to allow a full and frank discussion, the paper said. But it added that news of the talks was leaked by Australian sources to the Australian daily, The Age. The reported meetings came amid controversy over Iran’s nuclear programme. Western countries, notably the US, accuse Tehran of seeking to develop atomic weapons, but Iran insists its nuclear facilities are for non-military use. Israel, which neither denies nor confirms possession of nuclear weapons, is said to have any where between 100 and 200 nuclear warheads, making it the sixth-largest nuclear power. Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferataion Treaty (NPT), but Israel is not. Haaretz reported the meetings were held at the Four Seasons Hotel under the auspices of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND). They were also attended by representatives of the Arab League,
Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, along with European and American officials. During the meetings, Zafary-Odiz explained the Israeli policy of being willing, in principle, to discuss the Middle East as a nuclear-free zone, according to Haaretz. The paper added that she detailed Israel’s unique strategic situation, saying regional security must be strengthened, security arrangements agreed upon and a peace agreement sealed before Tel Aviv would feel at liberty to discuss nuclear disarmament. The exchanges between the two officials took place within three panel sessions, the paper reported. Each session dealt with one of the issues with which the ICNND is concerned - declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, preventing nuclear proliferation in the region and matters of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Zafary-Odiz and Soltanieh did not meet or shake hands outside the sessions. www.passionislam.com
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Israel push to change laws of war Israel’s prime minister has instructed his government to draw up plans for a “world wide campaign” to lobby for changes in the international laws of war. The order from Binyamin Netanyahu follows a special cabinet meeting to discuss Israel’s response to the UN’s Goldstone report, which condemned Israel’s actions during the 22-day war on Gaza earlier this year. The meeting also called for the formation of a special committee to deal with the international legal consequences of the report and the prospect Israeli officials could face war crimes trials abroad. The Israeli government contends international law needs to be amended in order to fight global terrorism. “The prime minister instructed the relevant government bodies to examine a worldwide campaign to amend the international laws of war to adapt them to the spread of global terrorism,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. It added that the cabinet had also instructed justice ministry officials to form a committee to deal with the prospect of “legal proceedings abroad against the state of Israel or its citizens”. The UN-backed Goldstone report – compiled by South African jurist Richard Goldstone - accuses Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during last winter’s war in Gaza, but is more critical of Israeli troops for
“terrorising and targeting” civilians. Goldstone recommended that the conclusions of the report be forwarded to the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court at The Hague if the two sides fail to conduct credible investigations into the conflict within six months. The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) endorsed the report, but Netanyahu has promised that it will be vetoed at the UN General Assembly. Israel has previously called the report unbalanced, while Netanyahu has promised a lengthy fight to “delegitimise” the findings by the UN commission.
Richard Goldstone himself has faced a storm of personal attacks inside Israel since the report’s publication. But he urged the Israeli government to comply with calls for a full investigation into the war, rejecting suggestions that the report risked sinking the stalled Middle East peace process. “It’s a shallow, utterly false allegation,” Goldstone said during a meeting with a group of rabbis in the United States. “What peace process are they talking about? There isn’t one.” About 1,400 Palestinians – the majority of them civilians were killed during Israel’s three-week war on Gaza between December and January.
Obama offers millions in Muslim technology fund The White House highlighted a new multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations, following a pledge made by President Barack Obama in his landmark speech to the Islamic world. The White House said the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) had issued a call for proposals for the fund, which will provide financing of between 25 and 150 million dollars for selected projects and funds. The Global Technology and Innovation Fund will “catalyze and facilitate private sector investments” throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, the White House said in a statement. Eligible projects would advance economic opportunity and create jobs
in areas like technology, education, telecoms, media, business services and clean technology, the White House said. OPIC said sample projects could help foster the development of new computer technology or telecommunications businesses, or widen access to broadband Internet services. Proposals must be submitted by the end of November, and managers of funds that make a final short list will make presentations in Washington in January. Final selections will be announced next June. In his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo last June, Obama argued that “education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century”
and that under-investment was rife in many Muslim nations. As well as the fund, Obama also said he will host a summit on entrepreneurship this year to deepen ties between business leaders in the United States and Muslim communities around the world. In his speech on June 4, Obama vowed to forge a “new beginning” for Islam and America, promising to purge years of “suspicion and discord.” In what may be one of the defining moments of his presidency, Obama laid out a new blueprint for U.S. Middle East policy, pledged to end mistrust, forge a state for Palestinians and defuse a nuclear showdown with Iran. www.passionislam.com
Jews lobby ‘to remove Al-Aqsa Mosque’
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I November 2009
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Extremist Jewish organizations in Israel have demanded that the AlAqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock from East Jerusalem Al-Quds be transferred to Makkah. Gershon Salomon is seeking the removal of the mosques from East Jerusalem Al-Quds, which Israel occupied during the 1967 aggression and illegally annexed it later despite international opposition, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported. The founder and leader of the ultra-Orthodox Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement plans to have Israeli engineers transfer the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock to the Muslims’ holy city of Makkah, the daily added. The Israeli paper also quoted ultra-right Yehuda Etzion, who is associated with Israeli spy agencies, as saying that blowing up of the Muslim
sanctities would become ‘inevitable’ to if Tel Aviv fails to dissemble and transfer the edifices. Etzion was jailed for five years in the 1980s for a plot to explode the mosques on the Noble Sanctuary (Haram al-Sharif), and has vowed he would do the same again. The Al-Aqsa Mosque has been attacked by extremist Jews over the past weeks while the mosque compound was sealed off to Muslim worshippers. Israel also deployed thousands of troops in the area to quell demonstrations by Palestinians protesters who accused Tel Aviv of efforts to take away the IslamicPalestinian identity of the Muslims’ third holy site. Jordan, who enjoys the right to look after all Islamic and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem Al-Quds
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under a 1994 peace treaty, demanded last week that Israel keep Jewish extremists away from the compound and keep the Mugrabi Gate closed.
US court rules govt can withhold info on torture A US federal court has ruled that the government can continue to suppress transcripts of former CIA prisoners that have been tortured at US detention facilities. The ruling came in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to obtain transcripts from the Defense Department’s Combatant Status Review Tribunals, which were used to determine if Guantanamo detainees qualify as “enemy combatants.” The government had produced the transcripts with heavy reactions that largely concealed the detainees’ claims that they were abused and tortured during interrogations.
In August, the government argued to the court that it should be allowed to continue to withhold the documents, because releasing the information in them would reveal “intelligence sources and methods” and might aid enemy “propaganda.” Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia refused ACLU’s request for the review of the documents. ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner said that the court is allowing the government to suppress the evidence “not to protect any legitimate national security interest, but to protect current and former government officials from accountability.”
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UWT helping with cooked food Youngest Quran in Earthquake affected Padang memorizer
UWT as part of its 1st Phase emergency response has set-up public kitchens in 7 areas across the Earthquake zone in Padang. These kitchens are providing cooked food twice daily for the affected IDPs who do not have access to kitchen facilities. For those who can somehow use their own kitchens are provided with food packs for a month. More than 500 people of all age are fed every day through this scheme.
It is an unbelievable disaster that left thousands without food until the UWT team has managed to set up the kitchens. The Trust is also organizing support of over 500 volunteers from all over Indonesia who are assisting the clean up operations caused by the earthquake. This is again a great example of a coordinated response of UWT and its local partner AlImdaad Foundation (AIF) to repair damaged homes, Masajid and roads to enable the victims to return to some normality. The volunteers are doing a great job in providing free labour to help in the reconstruction process as well as giving spiritual guidance to the aggrieved that have lost their loved ones in the disaster. The UWT delegation, Iqbal Rawat and Muhammed Taaha Laher have arrived in Padang to guide and assist the relief and reconstruction efforts.
The seventh great gathering of Quran reciters was held on Tuesday, October 20, in Austria’s capital Vienna, Qudspress. Renowned reciters from Egypt, Turkey and a number European and East Asian countries attended
the day-long gathering. There were also some 5000 European Muslims from different countries and ethnic backgrounds enjoying the outstanding recitations. According to Mohammad Tarhan, head of Vienna’s Islamic Society and
Quran reciters convene in Vienna
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honored in Saudi Arabia
World’s youngest Quran memorizer Tabarak Akmal Al-Labboudi from Saudi Arabia was honored in a ceremony in the holy city of Makkah. Saudi daily Okaz reported that Prince Khaled Al Faisal, Emir of Makkah Region, was in attendance in the ceremony, organized by the Quran Memorization Charitable Society in Jeddah, to honour the six year-old boy for his tremendous success. In a last year ceremony Tabarak was announced as the world’s youngest Quran memorizer. According to Abdullah Hanafi, Chairman of the Quran Memorization Charitable Society, 900 men and women who managed to memorize the Holy Book by heart will be also honored at the ceremony. He added that the society has launched a telephone system which enables callers to correct their recitations and helps them read and recite the Quran accurately. organizer of the event, it was aimed at promoting the holy Quran and encouraging Muslims to memorize and recite verses of the Noble Quran and learn its lofty concepts. Quranic convention was the largest Quranic event in Europe.
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Celtic Muslim wonderkid in line for full Scotland debut Passion Islam
Scotland U17 coach Ross Mathie may be about to hand Somali-born Celtic starlet Islam Feruz his full international debut after the 14-year-old made a dazzling start to his international career after coming on as a half-time sub during a 2-1 European defeat by Cyprus. Celtic’s young Bhoy made history against Cyprus, becoming the first player to pull on a dark blue jersey under Fifa’s new school ruling that allows a British passport holder who has been educated for at least five years in one of the home nations to play for that country. The Hillhead High pupil set up the Scots only goal on in the 2-1 defeat
against Cyprus with a 40-yard assist to Hoops team mate Callum McGregor. Fellow Hoops youngster McGregor also heaped praise on Scotland’s new star. ‘’I play with Islam every week. He is really good and has great ability,” he said. “It was terrific ball from Islam for our goal and he has been made very welcome by all the boys. “You could see that when I scored because half the guys ran to me and half to him to celebrate his part in setting up the strike.’’ Hoops fans were given a glimpse of the teenager in May when he featured in a tribute match in honour
Muslim female referee takes charge
We’ve seen our fair share of Asian referees take centre stage recently - now meet the first Asian female referee! Khadija Gire, aged 16 has started refereeing junior games in the region this month. She told us, “I just thought I would try something different so decided to give referring a go. I already knew some of the rules but the course really helped me.” Khadija is one of two qualified Asian female referees but is the
only one who has started officiating at matches. The other is Sanam Rehman and she will be making her debut on the pitch soon. Khadija said, “It has been really enjoyable so far and the parents of the young players I referee have been really supportive.” Khadija, who attended Beardwood High School and is now at St Mary’s College is hoping to referee in tournaments in the future. “At the moment I’m quite happy doing smaller sided games but I am hoping I can move on to bigger tournaments. Ismael Esat, Referees Coordinator said, “I am just happy an Asian female has taken an interest in this field and I would like to see more taking up refereeing. “Some people say we have to wear shorts. They can wear leggings if they want. “It is certainly the first time we have come across an Asian female referee.” People will be surprised to learn there are 55 Asian referees in the region now. - Asian Image
of Hoops legend Tommy Burns, who died last year. Burns had taken the young refugee under wing and was active in the Feruz family’s fight for asylum.
Muslim women win sports grant The Muslim Women`s Sports Foundation (MWSF) in Britain has won a grant to build on its pioneering success in developing local futsal and basketball clubs for ethnic minority women. MWSF chair Rimla Akhtar said that she believed the award of £235,000 from the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity is the first of its kind and will help future generations of ethnic minority women to succeed in sport. She suggested that the grant to be used to develop facilities is only the beginning of a much larger effort to develop healthy and confident women and girls in the UK. MWSF was founded in 2001 by Muslim News editor Ahmed Versi with the overarching aim to enable Muslim women to participate in a variety of sports without compromising their Islamic values. The grant will allow the MWSF to embark on the ‘Born to Succeed’ project - a three year plan aiming to increase the number of ethnic minority women in sport, which is was launched in London. With the funding, it is hoping to provide facilities and support that take into consideration religious and cultural sensitivities of women from different backgrounds. MWSF also seeks to promote cohesion and understanding between non-Muslim and Muslim communities by offering alternative social activities in mainstream society and developing role models for future generations of black and minority ethnic women.
The Call of Ibrahim (Abraham)
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(alayhis salaam) When Ibrahim (Alaihis salaam) completed the structure of the Kabah, Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) commanded him to call the people to Hajj. Ibrahim (Alaihis salaam) pleaded, “O Allah! How shall my voice reach all of those people?” Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) told him that his duty was only to give the call and it was up to Allah to make it reach the people. Ibrahim (Alaihis salaam) then climbed Mount Arafat and called out in his loudest voice, “O People! Verily Allah has prescribed upon you Hajj, so perform Hajj.” Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) revealed in the Qur’an: “And proclaim the Hajj among mankind. They will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways” (Surat Al-Hajj, Ayat 28). To this very day millions upon millions of Muslims continue to answer the call of Prophet Ibrahim (Alaihis salaam). Perhaps this year you shall be amongst those who answer the call. ‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas narrates, “When Islam entered my heart, I went to the Messenger of Allah and said, ‘Give me your hand so that I may pledge
allegiance to you.’ The Prophet spread his hand, but I withdrew mine. He said, ‘What is wrong ‘Amr?’ I said, ‘I want to make a condition.’ ‘And what is that?’ he said. I said, ‘That Allah will forgive me.’ Then the Messenger of Allah said, ‘Did you not know that Islam wipes out what came before it, and that Hijrah wipes out what came before it and that Hajj wipes out what came before it!” (Sahih Muslim). Hajj is the fifth pillar upon which Islam stands. Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) made it compulsory upon every able Muslim male and female to perform it, at least once in a lifetime. Allah revealed: “Hajj thereto is a duty mankind owes to Allah, those who can afford the journey, but if any deny faith, Allah stands not in need of any of His creatures.” (Surat Ali Imran, Ayat 97). Performance of the Hajj washes away all sins. Abu Hurairah narrates: I heard the Prophet say, “Whoever performs Hajj and does not commit any Rafath (obscenity) or Fusooq (transgression), he returns (free from sin) as the day his mother bore him” (Sahih Bukhari). Hajj is one of the greatest deeds one can accomplish in his or her lifetime. Abu Hurairah narrates: The Prophet was asked, “What deed is the
best?” He said, “Iman in Allah and His Messenger.” “Then what?” “Jihad in the sake of Allah.” “Then what?” “Hajj Mabroor, a Hajj accepted by Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala).” Abu Sha’thaa’ said, “I contemplated the good deeds that a person does. I found that salaat as well as fasting are a jihad of the body. And that sadaqa is a jihad of someone’s wealth. But Hajj is a jihad of both body and wealth.” Hajj is the greatest jihad. Aishah (Radiallahu anha) asked the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), “We find that jihad is the best deed, shouldn’t we (women) do jihad?” The Prophet replied, “Rather the best jihad is a Hajj Mabroor!” Aishah later said, “I’ll never cease performing Hajj after I heard that from Rasul Allah” (Agreed Upon). The dua of the one in Hajj shall be accepted. The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said, “The soldier in the path of Allah and the one who performs Hajj and the one who performs ‘Umra, all are the delegation of Allah! He called them and they answered. And they asked Him, and He shall grant them (what they ask for)!” (Authentic, narrated by Ibn Majah and Ibn Hibban). In the Islamic history books it was narrated that on the day of Arafat, a
I November 2009 man from Turkmenistan stood on the plains of Arafat in Hajj. To his left all he could see was Muslims crying and praying to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala). To his right all he could see was Muslims crying and praying to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala). Because of his native tongue, he could not imitate the lengthy prayers of the others. At this realization everything blurred in front of him. His face reddened, his eyes poured tears as he raised his hands, “O Allah! Grant me everything that they are asking for! Grant me everything that they are asking for!” And Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) accepted his dua. There is not a single day that the sun has come up on more beloved to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) than the Day of Arafat. The Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said, “There is no day on which Allah frees more of His slaves from Fire than the Day of Arafat, and He verily draws near, then boasts of them before the angles, saying: ‘What do they seek?’” (Sahih Muslim). And in another hadith: “Verily Allah boasts of the people of Arafat before the people of Heaven (angels) saying: ‘Look to my servants who have come to Me disheveled and dusty.’” Abdullah ibn Al-Mubaarak narrates: I went to Sufyaan ibn alUyaynah as the day of Arafat was setting. He sat on his knees, his hands raised to the Heavens, and tears moistened his cheeks and beard. He turned and looked at me, so I asked him, “Amongst the people who have gathered here for Hajj, who is in the worst state?” Sufyaan ibn al-Uyaynah said, “He who thinks that Allah will not forgive him.” Aishah (Radiallahu anha) would see the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) standing in prayer at night so much so that his feet would crack. She would ask him, “Why do you do this when Allah has forgiven all your sins, the past and anything you may do in the future?” And he would reply, “Shouldn’t I be a thankful slave?” With this example of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), what should our attitude be when we hear of Paradise and forgiveness of sin for those who perform Hajj? Does it mean that after Hajj we fall back into all the disobedience that we went to Hajj with? Does it mean that we are promised Jannah no matter what sin
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we do after Hajj? Many people think this to be the case and it is a very dangerous presumption. You will find in many of the Hadith regarding the virtue of Hajj the term Hajj Mabroor. Do you know what Mabroor means? It means an accepted Hajj. A Mabroor Hajj is one in which Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) is not disobeyed during or after. Others have said that a Hajj Mabroor is one that is accepted, and the sign of it’s acceptance is that a person will go back in a better state then when he came, and that he will discontinue the sins that were between him and Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala). I once saw a group of Hajjis with all of their paraphernalia. Plastered on their t-shirts and hats was ‘Hajj Mabroor 1997!’ I remembered then when Ibn Umar was on his deathbed and his son reminded him of all the good deeds that he did with the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and the companions. He told him, “Quiet! Don’t you know whom Allah accepts from? Verily Allah only accepts from the God-Fearing (AlMuttaqoon).” When Ali ibn Al-Husayn (Radiallahu anhuma) wore his Ihram towels and sat upright on his camel in preparation for the journey to Makkah, his face changed color, his skin shivered and he cried, unable to say the Talbiyyah, Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk. Someone asked him, “What’s wrong?” And he replied, “I’m afraid that when I say it, it shall be replied, ‘Laa Labbayka wa Laa Sa’dayk’ (May you never have come and may you not have happiness).” With that spirit, let us march forward in the search of the Mercy of Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) and His forgiveness, to the first house of Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) on earth, to Hajj. In the Hajj of 1996 you may have heard of the Jamarat crowd in which 600 people died. It was Dhuhr time that it happened and I had been sitting there from the early morning waiting for noon to throw my pebbles. About 30 minutes before Dhuhr a wave of people, like dominoes, toppled over us. I had said to myself earlier that if I were ever in an emergency situation I would jump up on a bus or anything high to escape the crowd. Now, I saw people doing just that and I knew this was the situation that I had feared.
SPECIAL FEATURE I 21 My friend said, “What shall we do?” With a glance over the sea of people I knew there was no way we could walk opposite of the crowd and so I replied, “Go and throw our Jamarat.” People died that day. Ambulance sirens were blaring and helicopters were thundering above. In the pain and exhaustion, losing my friend, I sat leaning, my back on a sister and her back on me. We did not even realize what we were doing. I tasted what the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) meant when he said that on the Day of Judgment people would be naked and Aishah (Radiallahu anha) asked him, “Won’t the men and women look at each other?” And he replied, “Aishah, the issue is more severe than that.” I saw 3 men looking anxiously for their friend and I just sat staring at them. All of a sudden their faces exploded in happiness, “Ahmad! Ahmad!” they called, and one of them could not handle the happiness and he cried and cried. Limping back to the Kabah I found a place with shady trees and a carpeted patio leading to a villa. The owner, an older man, stood watching as all the people walked by. And I sat watching him. People would come up to him and beg for a glass of water. He would jump and bring them the coldest water he had. They would pray from the bottom of their hearts for him. I knew what kind of dua that was, because I was feeling the same thirst that they all felt. Whenever he saw someone sick, he would spring out to the road and invite them in, giving them a bed and food to relax them. I was shy at first, but the thirst overcame me and I asked him for water. I had been on that patio for some time and when I asked him, he realized he had not offered me anything. He ran inside, and in addition to the water, he brought me packets of fruit juice. I thought about this man as I made my way back to the Kabah. If a human was so merciful to these people who had come for Hajj, these people who had come for no other reason than to say ‘La ilaaha illa Allah’, how merciful was Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’ala) going to be to these Hajjis? Indeed, the Prophet said, “And there is no reward for an accepted Hajj…except Jannah!”
A Comparative
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Part One
Study of
Ideologies
Part One
Here is a presentation of Marxism from the words of Marxists themselves: All existence is a process of dialectical materialism. It is the Hegelian dialectic of Thesis, synthesis and antithesis materialised. Conflict of the thesis and antithesis (in other words struggle or conflict) is an inevitable fact in the universe. Their mutual action and reaction creates a synthesis. All creation therefore is an outcome of inner and inherent contradictions which inevitably develop in every situation. This is a complete explanation of all causal processes. It is not the mind that dominates matter, but it is itself a product of matter. The effective causes are the objective events in the universe. Materialistic
realism must be substituted for Hegelian Idealism . Although dialectical materialism is believed to be a comprehensive hypothesis which is considered suitable for a universal explanation of all phenomena in all categories, the chief interest of Marxism is its application in the field of social institutions and processes. In social realms, economic phenomenon, comprised under the general concept of modes of production , are really creative and potent factors. Religion, politics, ethics and art are all derivatives of the mode of production . History is not a series of chaotic haphazard events, but rather there is a
method to its apparent madness. The objective conditions for the production of the material means of life form the basis of all the historical activity of man. History was never understood by any philosopher or historian because none of them chanced to possess this master-key. All idealistic and providential explanations of history are misleading. Ideas and religions are nothing but the material world reflected by the human mind. There is no other Creator or Director of the world forces except the dialectics of matter. Politics and judicial systems are not products of abstract ideas of justice but are rooted in the material conditions of life. The anatomy of civil society is a by-product of its
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economics. The mode of production of the material means of existence conditions the whole process of social, political and intellectual life. Social changes, political revolutions and religious reformations are not due to any increasing insight into eternal truth and justice; they must be sought in the economics of the epoch concerned. In a joint work on German Ideology, Marx and Engels sum it up as follow: “In direct contrast to German philosophy which descends from heaven to earth, here the ascent is made from earth to heaven. That is to say, we do not start from what men say, imagine, conceive, nor from men as described, thought of, imagined and conceived, in order thence and thereby to reach corporeal men; we start from real active men and from their life-process, also show the development of the ideological reflexes and echoes of this lifeprocess also show the development of the ideological reflexes and echoes of this life-process.” The operation of non-economic forces is not denied but, as Engels says, according to the materialistic conception of history, the production and reproduction of real life constitutes in the last instance the determining factor of history. The entire value of a commodity consists of physical or mental labour embodied in its production. A commodity has a value because it is a crystallisation of social labour. The relative values of commodities are determined by the respective quantities or amounts of labour worked up, realised, fixed in them. But it is only socially valuable labour that is value-determining. Marx conceived of all kinds and degrees of occupational skill as being reducible to standard time units of unskilled labour. The value of quality can be judged only by reducing it to quantity of unskilled labour. Wages are on the whole bound closely to a physical subsistence level. Marx maintained that under capitalism the working day must be longer than the number of hours of average labour required to produce the workers subsistence. The value produced during these excess hours constitutes “surplus value,” that is, values produced by the workers but
SPECIAL FEATURE
which they do not get. The labourer is made to work more hours than in necessary for his own subsistence and the surplus value thus created is annexed by the employer. The creation and grabbing of surplus value is inevitable under the capitalistic system. To Marx, it is the heart and soul of that system. While during earlier historical stages of capitalism he exercised personal initiative in the organisation of production, he continued, even at the mature stages of capitalism, to hire others to do the directing, while he retained the passive role of the immediate supplier of funds to pay labour. A capitalist has no other aim but the acquisition of surplus value. All surplus value, whether profit, interest or rent, is in substance the materialisation of unpaid labour. After the process of capital accumulation is set going, it is the labourer’s own labour robbed from him which is advanced to the labourer to create further surplus value for the capitalist employer. The produce of the labour of those who do work, gets unavoidably accumulated in the hands of those who do not work, and becomes in their hands the most powerful means to enslave the very men who produced it. This process is inherent in the entire capitalistic system. Being contrary to human welfare and internally inconsistent, it must be scrapped and superseded. Economic forces have always created mutually antagonistic classes of the oppressors and the oppressed. “The modern bourgeois society, that has sprouted from the ruins of feudal society, has not done away with class-antagonisms. It has but established new classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of struggles in place of the old ones.” Society has not split up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other --bourgeoisie and proletariat. “A sense of this irreconcilable clash of interests must be instilled into the workers. With their class-antagonisms developed, class-struggle would ensue; and this, necessarily taking a political form, would be the first step in preparation for the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of a new order.”
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Under capitalism the bourgeoisie would go on accumulating the surplus profit out of the unpaid labour of the workers and the worker would go on getting wages which would be exhausted in their own reproduction. Marx makes no distinction between the incomes of the moneylender, the landowner, the capitalist, the employer and the merchant. He thinks there are no essential differences in their interests or their positions within the bourgeoisie. Their incomes consist of portions of surplus value produced by labour. The lower strata of the bourgeoisie, the small tradespeople, shopkeepers, handicraftsmen and the peasants would gradually sink into the proletariat because they will be swamped in competition with the big capitalists. Bourgeoisie has played a very important, progressive and transitional role; it has played a revolutionary part in tearing asunder all feudal ties and retaining naked self-interest as the only nexus between man and man. It has drowned in the icy water of egoistical calculation all religious fervour and idealistic sentimentalism. Only direct brutal exploitation is left. Its positive achievement is the advancement of humanity in many directions without any deliberate humanitarian motive. Nature’s forces have been subjected to applied science and various parts of the world have been brought into close contact. But, in accordance with the inevitable dialectic of materialism, it has set in operation forces that will cause its ultimate downfall. It has created the proletariat as its logical correlative. The proletarian is defined “as a class of labourers who live only so long as they find work, and they work so long as their labour increases capital. These labourers, who sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition and to all the fluctuations of the market.” As industrial processes herd together large masses of workers in one town, the proletariat is in a much better position to form combinations against the bourgeois and can club together in order to keep up the rate of wages. The proletariat is also benefited by increased means of
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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I SPECIAL FEATURE
Passion Islam
I November 2009
Prophet Adam (Peace be upon him)
The First Man Part 2
The devil meant to say that he was superior to Adam because he was created of fire, and fire seeks height and loftiness. Adam was created of clay so how could clay compare with fire. Satan’s answer was a result of ignorant pride. Therefore, Allah made it clear to him that his pride and arrogance was a result of his ignorance and made him blind from recognising the right of his creation and the respect due to him. So the devil did not recognise that this ignorance prevented him from recognising the truth. Because of his foolish act, he was thrown out of paradise, cursed as Allah mentions in the Quran: “He (Allah) said go away from here (paradise), surely you are one accursed.” (Al-Hijr 15:34). From this episode, we can learn a lesson that the first ever sin to be done was pride and arrogance from Iblis (Shaytan). Due to this, he was thrown out of paradise and was also accursed.
Arrogance is to be mentioned as a disease of heart because it just leads a person from one sin to another, which deprives one from recognising the truth, like it happend to Iblis. May Allah save us all form this major sin. Ameen. A question may arise that Iblis had attained such a high degree in knowledge that he was called “The Peacock among the Angels” Then how did he come to commit such an error? Some scholars say that it was because of his pride and arrogance. Allah took back from him the wealth of knowledge and understanding. Others have suggested that his error was due to self love and ambition. “Dwell in Paradise” The next part of the story Allah mentiones in the Quran: “As we said “O Adam dwell, you and your wife in paradise, and eat of pleasure from wherever you like, but do not go near this tree or you shall join the
transgressors”. The shaytan caused them to slip from it, and brought them out of where they had been. And we said “Go down you all, some of you enemies of some, and on the earth there will be for you a dwelling place and enjoyment for a time.” When Iblis got expelled from paradise and Adam’s superiorty was acknowledged by the Angels, this verse tells us that Adam and Hawa recieved a command from Allah to stay in paradise and enjoy its blessings. They were also instructed not to eat the fruit of a particular tree. This same time Iblis had an account to settle with him due to the fact that because of Adam , he Iblis, was thrown out of paradise. Victims of the first attack by Iblis (Shaytan - Satan) So when Iblis got the oppurtunity, he tricked them into eating from this tree. Because of this major error, they were too ordered to leave paradise and
I November 2009 live on earth for a temporary period. Because Allah also told them that your open enemy is shaytan, so watch out for him. The Quran says: “Did I not forbid you twain this tree, and did I not say to you twain, “ Surely Shaytan is for you twain an open enemy”?”. So from this it is clear that Allah did warn them about their open enemy. The verse of Sura Al-Baqarah (verse 36), Allah says, “Some amongst you will be enemies of each other”. This can mean that the enemy of Adam and Hawa Shaytan. Some have said between the children of Adam there shall be disunity and corruption. That means the same time Iblis was also ordered to live on earth so he asked Allah for respite until the day of judgement and he also challenged Allah that he will misguide the children of Adam from the devotion and sincere ones. Allah says in the Quran: “He Iblis said: “My Lord, respite me till the day they are raised, He (Allah) said: “ Then surely you are of the respited, to the day of known Time.: He Iblis said: “My Lord, since you have misguided me, I will certainly make (vices) alluring to them on earth, and I will misguide them all. Except your servants among the devoted ones.” A question may arise here as to how Shaytan got into paradise and tricked Adam and Hawa , baecause he was thrown out of paradise due to his disobediance. Some commentators have said he whispered from far away out of paradise and caused them to do this act. Some have said he (Iblis) assumed the shape of a snake or of something else and succeded in entering paradise. The verse of (AlAraf, 36-37) clearly explaines how he (Iblis) tricked the twain. He (Iblis) said that if you twain eat the fruit from this tree you shall become Angels or you will become immortals. He (Iblis)
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swore an oath to both of them, I am a sincere adviser to both of you so from the verse we can understand that Iblis spoke to them face to face in paradise. Another question may arise that it is the belief of everyone that all Prophets are sinless and they are protected from major sins and minor sins, some scholars have said all the Prophets are protected from major sins and not minor sins. But our belief is if they do a minor sin by mistake and it’s never purposefully, they ask for sincere repentance then Allah wipes that sin away. If you look at Iblis’s situation he made a mistake and because of arrogance and pride he did not ask for repentance, so Allah misguided him. Sincere repentance In the next part of the story, Allah mentions, “Then Adam learnt certain words (to pray with) from his Lord so Allah accepted his repentance. No doubt he is the Most -Relenting, the very merciful. We said “Go down from here, all of you. Then should some guidance come to you from me, those who follow my guidance shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. As for those who disbelieve, and deny our sins, they are the people of fire; they shall be there forever” (Al-Baqarah 37-39) These verses talk about how Adam and Hawa were forgiven. After doing the sin, Hazrat Adam was regretful and remorseful. He did not know what to do and how to humbly ask for pardon. But Adam could not bear it and he was also afraid what if I say something and more displeasure comes upon me. But Allah knows what passes through man’s heart, and he is also the Most Merciful and the Most Gracious. Seeing the agony and remose in Adam , Allah taught him the words of a prayer so that he could
SPECIAL FEATURE I 25 offer his repentance properly, the holy Quran uses the word (Talikiy) which means accepting and welcomimg a person now was the words which Adam recieved. Different things have been reported from different companions, (may Allah be pleased with them). But the generally accepted report is that of the blessed companion Ibn Abbas which is mentioned in the Quran in a different place, These phrases are:“O Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if you do not forgive us, we will surely be among the losers”. (AlAraf 7.23) So after when Adam was forgiven, it is wrong for us to say that Adam was sent to earth as a source of punishment. Because in this, Allah mentiones, “I am going to create a deputy on earth” (Al-Baqara 2:30). From this we can understand this verse was said before the creation of Adam and also Allah knew what will happen in the future, so he was waiting for the right time to come, and because Adam was forgiven, Allah’s word was true. So that Adam can be a source of guidance for mankind by establishing the Law of Allah on earth. From this we can also learn a lesson, the way our first parents repented because of an error, the same way we should also repent sincerely having done a sin.
Conditions for repentance Sincere repentance has three conditions: 1. Acknowledge one’s sin as a sin, being ashamed of it and feeling remorseful. 2. Giving up the sin altogether, 3. Making up one’s mind firmly never to indulge in it again. If out of these three conditions, any one of them is missing, then the repentance won’t be accepted.
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I November 2009
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