This is the second prize winner in the TMO Foundation 2011 Essay Contest.
I often look back at my childhood and note the split in my life, as well as in the lives of so many, made distinct after September 11, 2001. Ever since, I’ve had to answer for what I believe or prove who I was to people who had never focused so intensely on the terms “Muslim†or “Islam.†It was tiring knowing that people were looking at me with preconceived notions, and it was tiring always approaching people with the attitude of clearing misconceptions.
But I accepted it. I accepted that if I wanted people to know my Islam, then I would have to be comfortable answering the endless stream of questions – many bizarre and ignorant, but always important.
Then the American people, both Muslims and others, discovered something. While I was explaining what Islam meant to me, someone else was explaining what Islam meant to them. We began to discuss with each other about what we believed, why we believed and how we applied those beliefs to our lives. Our stories were born.
We were forced to compare our Muslim identities to those who claimed to destroy lives in the name of Islam. I was not like those people. My family was not like those people. My community was not like those people. I knew that. So what were we like?
We were diverse. We were diverse in age, in heritage, in interests; but always unified in faith. At first, this vast and intangible diversity I discovered confused me. I thought it would be easier if all Muslims were the same – one religion meaning one type of follower.
Then I uncovered the deception in that statement. I heard different narrations from Muslims, even those who looked just like me, about what Islam meant to them. The true meaning of diversity came out. It wasn’t limited to speaking global languages or swapping samosa recipes for falafels. It was deeper. It was diversity in experiences; diversity in thought.
So Muslims cannot be seen as one programmed, unchanging group – whether we’re from Indonesia or Palestine, the East Coast or the West Coast. Nor was it ever our purpose to be so. As God says in verse 13 of chapter 49 in the Quran, “Oh mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another …†We were created as different groups not for quarreling but for knowing each other.
I’m only beginning to understand diversity in Islam. We’re all only beginning to understand that. But it’s evident in our discussions that this understanding has begun. Just in January, the Islamic Society of North America held its first Diversity Forum in Michigan. It featured sessions on Shi’a-Sunni relations, immigrant versus indigenous experiences and encouraging an appreciation for diversity under the theme of “Realizing The Dream: Finding Strength Through Diversity.â€
This forum seemed to have come ten years too late. I thought about how much discussions like that would have benefited me back in 2001. But it’s important to realize that those struggles my community and I faced then, we are still facing now. We’ve almost been thrust back in time with the recent death of United States “Enemy Number One,†having to answer those same decisive and identity-hinged questions again.
However, it’s not a matter of redefining yourself but of defining yourself. We discover our stories and our paths to this one, unified appreciation and understanding we have of God and His message. It is under this unity that when defining ourselves, we also discover our diversity.
Anemometer: an instrument which measures wind speed or wind speed and direction. A cup anemometer is used to measure the wind speed from the speed of rotation of a windmill which consist of 3 or 4 hemispherical or conical cups, each fixed to the ends of horizontal arms attached to a vertical axis. A byram anemometer is a variety of the cup anemometer. A counting anemometer has cups or a fan whose rotation is transmitted to a technical counter which integrates directly the air movement speed. A hand anemometer is a small portable anemometer held at arm’s length by an observer making a wind speed measurement. A pressure tube anemometer (Dines anemometer) is an instrument which derives wind speed from measurements of the dynamic wind pressures. Wind blowing into a tube develops a pressure greater than the static pressure, while wind blowing across a tube develops a pressure less than the static. This pressure difference is proportional to the square of the wind speed.
Dr. Wasim Khan is an accomplished doctor who has decided to seek political office in New Jersey.
He is running for the senate seat of New Jersey’s 26th district, a seat which he previously sought and lost to Joseph Pennacchio, in 2007. Penacchio, a Republican, won with 26,000 votes, as compared to Dr. Khan’s 13,000.
This year, Khan ran unopposed in the Democratic primary but faces a serious challenge in the main election. Since 1981, the district has always been carried by Republicans in the general election–however the lines of the district were recently drawn and its current boundaries are untested, although it seems likely its general character will remain.
Another factor that may influence the election in the district is that, of New Jersey’s 40 senate districts, this one has one of the heaviest concentrations of Asians. Perhaps this will not be enough to sway the election in Mr. Khan’s favor, however.
But Dr. Khan remains optimistic about the current election, citing as evidence the fact that Penacchio faces a challenger from his own party who is running as an independent. Also, Khan explains that New Jersey currently has an extremely unpopular Republican governor whose actions to limit public workers’ union rights have led to electoral anger which could harm other Republicans.
Dr. Khan explains that his background is very distinguished. A physician, born and raised in India, Khan was educated at India’s “most prestigious universities,†and also did post-graduate work at Harvard. He explains that he has been published in major peer-reviewed articles here, in Europe, and in India.
“One of my studies, on cancer prevention, is still ongoing at Harvard,†he explains.
Khan worked on the failed Howard Dean presidential campaign of 2004, and his loyalty to Dean still shows through in his anger at the character assassination against Dean by the media–which he characterizes as completely unfair.
Khan explains his value to New Jersey residents with convincing arguments, explaining that there are many large communities of ethnic groups in New Jersey without any legislative representation, citing Muslims, Chinese, Sikhs, and others. He expresses his willingness to stand up for anyone who is oppressed, whatever his or her background.
Mr. Khan asks for your support as he approaches the November election.
“I have a fairly good chance to win if Muslims rally around me. Of course only residents can vote in the election, but anyone in the US can help out, contribute, volunteer, send a few dollars.†He says not to be shy–â€send a few dollars, it’s okay. Don’t say to yourself, oh, $10 won’t make a difference–no, it will make a big difference, I can put that money to good use.â€
Khan explains that in this current election cycle he believes there are no Muslim candidates running for state senates or assemblies anywhere in the US. He campaigned for support at the ISNA convention in Chicago earlier this month, and he says he was the only Muslim candidate campaigning there–it is on this fact that he bases his statement that there are no other Muslim candidates running in the current election cycle at the state legislative level.
Khan ran unsuccessfully for Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council in 2005.
A man wearing a mask depicting News Corp Chief Executive and Chairman Rupert Murdoch protests during a parliamentary committee on phone hacking at Portcullis House in London July 19, 2011. Rupert Murdoch was attacked by a protester on Tuesday while giving evidence to a parliamentary committee at which he defended his son and his company over a scandal that has rocked the British establishment.
REUTERS/Olivia Harris
Today the British papers not owned by Rupert Murdoch “rumored†that he might be jailed. Americans, even Brits, have little or no idea what is at risk here. There is simply no one who can report it when the individual who, not only controls the world’s largest news organization turns out to be, well, what?
Who is Rupert Murdoch?
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has played a significant role in the elections of three U.S. presidents, as well as some of the events that have happened during their administrations including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the economic meltdown, Gordon Duff, senior editor and writer for Veterans Today told Press TV.
What he is not is an Australian “right wing†billionaire. Murdoch, though born in Australia is an Israeli citizen and Jewish. Why is this important?
Murdoch is now admitted to have controlled the political systems in Britain and America for two decades. He has had the power to choose national leaders, make policy, pass laws at will. Where did the power come from?
We now know it came from spying, blackmail, bribery and propaganda.
What is his agenda? Ah, there’s the rub.
Was it about selling newspapers using scandals or spying in the name of Israel to push Britain and the United States into wars for Israel? There is a simple answer.
Murdoch’s primary motivation isn’t even that he is “for Israel.†Murdoch is, perhaps, the most influential Israeli, more powerful than Netanyahu. The problem with that is that his beliefs are what we call “ultra-nationalist.â€
This makes him a threat. Ultra-nationalists are known to support wars, plan terrorist acts, manipulate populations into strife and racism, foster fear and panic, even financial ruin.
What are we describing here?
If you aren’t totally brain dead, you realize I am describing Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.
Murdoch owns Fox News and so much else you may not have a time to look at the list. If he doesn’t own it he doesn’t want it.
Fox is a network and Murdoch, owning so many newspapers across America and being a foreigner shouldn’t be able to control such a thing. How did he do it?
Reagan “appointed†Murdoch an American citizen. Murdoch promised to have Fox News support Republicans and say whatever was needed, no matter how false, how stupid or, as we have seen now for decades, how genuinely evil.
What he really did, however, was use Fox as a base to allow Israel to run spy operations.
These went two ways:
1. Israel got lots of military technology and secrets they could sell to America’s enemies for money. This is good “Murdoch†business sense, as we all see now.
2. Murdoch helped Israel gain control of congress. They literally run the United States. The tools? As in Britain, bribery and blackmail, police, military and congress.
No surprises for anyone.
Murdoch has, in fact, engineered the last 20 plus years of American history, picking politicians, throwing elections, establishing policies. Were the decisions his own?
I don’t think so. I think Murdoch represents a group, mostly financial, making up the Rothschild family, the Federal Reserve Banks and organized crime.
There is an Israeli or Jewish aspect to some of this but not in the sense of being “pro†or “anti†Semitic. The Murdoch empire, married to the “lily white†“no Jews allowed†Republican Party simply put their own very powerful spin on the good old “New World Order,†pushing it into drug running, arms and human trafficking, manipulated international currencies and debt on a massive scale, ran America and the European Union into economic collapse, worked with oil companies to set up price fixing schemes…
This is what Murdoch and his friends have done, all the while pointing their fingers at Osama bin Laden and the evil “liberals.â€
They divided Britain, starting at first as “conservatives†and then changed to “liberals.†What they did in Britain is undermine legal government, destroy the nation and the public’s trust in the government, Blair, Cameron, it doesn’t matter, Murdoch chose both and ran and runs both like hand puppets as he did with Bush and his friends.
The ideas are simple. Bilk the countries out of every last cent, use a portion to bribe or blackmail politicians, buy police and get even more money.
Then you lie to the people, give them enemies to hate, arrange wars for them to fight and stand back and watch them destroy themselves.
Are there people really this evil?
Yes there are, Murdoch, the gang at his companies, the gang at Fox News, the folks in the US called “neocons,†the Israeli lobby in the US, the ADL, AIPAC and the Likudist faction in Israel run by Netanyahu.
These folks hate the United States.
A similar group hate Britain. Australia has their own, he runs that place entirely, right into the ground. He also runs Germany, Canada, he runs much of what was once the “free world.â€
Am I describing Satan?
Pretty much.
His strongest advocates, those who have stood with his thieves and liars against all that is decent, all that is good, all that is right is the Evangelical and “Zionist†communities in the United States. They were and are the “fertile ground†for his message of hate and deceit.
Who does Murdoch claim to hate?
Muslims for sure, they are all bad. Everything he touches in his hundreds of publications and TV shows or the phony news his gang of cutthroats create, hate of Muslims is always on top. This pleases his Israeli friends. If things keep going as they are, he may need to hide out there and Israel will always protect him, maybe plow down a few Palestinian homes to give him a grand estate. After all, Muslims are an easy target, living in petty dictatorships run by thieves who we have now learned have always run to Washington and Tel Aviv for orders.
Take out a second. Think the word “Palestinian.†Do you also think “terrorist?†Do you see a child being killed by an Israeli helicopter or innocent people killed by a TV villain, almost invariably played by Jewish actors, perhaps a sick “inside joke†of Murdoch’s.
Even the “revolutionary types†did the same. The Islamic people of the world have been played, exploited and crushed since 1919. History will show it carefully planned and financed by a certain European banking family, one that 6 years earlier had established an illegal banking system in the US.
Learn about the real Balfour Declaration and how it was gotten through blackmail, learn who wrote it and to whom it was sent.
The story reads exactly like the things that are coming out in Britain day after day.
Murdoch tells his followers to hate “smart people.†There has to be fear of the educated, the “elites.†You can’t have rampant racism and blind ignorance until you destroy public trust in the natural leaders, until you destroy real culture and replace it with mechanized music, scandal mongering, dirty sex and endless conspiracies.
Murdoch is the real king of conspiracy theories.
Look at the endless list of wild accusations that came from Fox alone. Then look at the others, the accusations, the wild and insane things that were written into history but likely planned by Murdoch. 9/11 probably had Murdoch’s hand in it as did the London bombings on 7/7.
There could be no great conspiracy without control of the news.
Now we find the news itself controlled the governments and may well have written the scripts to the wars, the rigged elections, the acts of terror and the misdirection that sent America into a decade of cruel and useless bloodletting after terror groups that never existed in the first place.
Now, today, as our British cousins are reeling in the revelations that their government for decades has not been their own, a diseased hybrid of crazy old man, Israeli spies and the paid stooges that the people thought were serving them….
And it goes on in America, full blast, Murdoch and his creatures, planning the future of America.
One of his creatures is Boehner.
Another is Palin.
Then there is Gingrich.
There was the entire Bush administration.
But, to get to the dark heart of evil, first you look at Fox News.
Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran. A 100% disabled vet. He has been a featured commentator on TV and radio including Al Jazeera and his articles have been carried by news services around the world. He has been a UN Diplomat, defense contractor and is a widely published expert on military and defense issues. Duff is Senior Editor at one of the most widely read Veterans Online publications Veterans Today.
RIYADH, Shaaban 18/July 19 (IINA)-With two weeks to go before the holy month of Ramadan, attractive weekend Umrah packages starting from SR100 are being offered by travel operators in the capital.
The beginning of the Umrah season on June 29 this year coincided with the summer holidays, triggering a large rush of people including Saudis to do the pilgrimage.
An official from Al-Rushd, a leading Hajj and Umrah travel operator in the city, said the Umrah season is to continue until two weeks after Ramadan.
He predicted that the current fee of SR100 per pilgrim will increase by 50 percent as Ramadan approaches and will be hiked even further during the latter part of the holy month. “Budget conscious families are currently taking advantage of this offer,†he said.
A return fare from Riyadh to Makkah by luxury coach including accommodation in the holy city will cost SR100 per pilgrim and the charges remain the same even if the pilgrim opts to visit the Prophet’s (s) Mosque in Madinah en route to Makkah.
For an additional payment of SR30 per pilgrim, accommodation can be upgraded to four-star hotels in the holy city.
The itinerary for the weekend package to Makkah and Madinah starts at 4 p.m. from Riyadh on Wednesday and finishes on Friday midnight. Each family is given a large room while the bachelors are accommodated on a sharing basis with three pilgrims in one room. Children under 12 pay half the fare.
A five-day package to Makkah and Madinah including travel and accommodation will cost SR150 per pilgrim. The offer includes a two-day stay in a three-star hotel in Madinah and another two days in similar accommodation in Makkah.
The journey begins on Monday and ends on Friday. The pilgrims will leave the holy city of Makkah after Friday prayers so that they reach Riyadh around midnight. Pilgrims are given an option to stay in a five-star hotel for an additional premium.
There are more than 100 Umrah travel operators spread out across the capital, but most are concentrated in the city center of Batha.
During the journey, coaches stop for Maghreb, Isha and dinner and at the meeqat point in Taif to allow pilgrims to don ihrams. Pilgrims are given half an hour to put their ihrams on to ensure that they reach Makkah in time for Fajr.
A leading hotelier in Makkah told Arab News that the majority of the pilgrims are from all parts of the Kingdom and others have come from countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. “This year, there are less people from Arab countries such as Egypt and Morocco, possibly due to unrest in the region,†he noted. The occupancy rate in Makkah hotels has been recorded at 88 percent during weekdays and 100 percent during the weekends, he added.
The local hotels in cooperation with local tour operators have arranged city tours to historical sites for the benefit of those pilgrims who come to Madinah to visit the Prophet’s Mosque.
The places of interest include Quba Mosque, the first mosque built by the Holy Prophet (s) in Madinah; the Qiblatain Mosque where the Qibla was shifted from Baitul Muqaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) to the Holy Kaaba; and the graveyard on the foothills of Mount Uhud where soldiers who died in battle during the prophetic period were buried.
Washington (SANA): Executive Director Kashmir American Council/Centre
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai has allegedly charged and arrested by FBI in Washington. He has arrested on the eve of American foreign Minster Harley Clinton’s visit to India. The political leadership of Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and IHK strongly condemn over the arrest of Dr. Gulam Nabi Fai.
US justice officials charged and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested Dr. Gulam Nabi Fai 62, a US citizen on Tuesday over a decades-long effort to push the Kashmiri cause in Washington. The Justice Department said he faced up to five years in prison if found guilty.
“Foreign governments who try to influence the United States by using unregistered agents threaten our national security,†alleged FBI Assistant Director in Charge James McJunkin.
The council, based in Washington and headed by Fai, is “actually run†by elements of the Pakistani government, the Justice Department alleged in a statement.
Fai was arrested Tuesday morning and expected to appear before Thursday at a court in Alexandria, near the US capital, to hear the charges.
The political leadership of the Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and Indian Held Kashmir has strongly condemned over the arrest of Dr. Gulam Nabi Fai and demanded of immediately released him without any condition.
Raja Zulqarneen Haider the president of Azad Kashmir, Fazlur Rahman, Chairman Kashmir Committee, former Ameer-e-Jamaat Islami Pakistan Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Secretary General JI Liaqat Baloch, Ameer-e-JI Azad Kashmir Abdur Rasheed Turabi, Raja Zafrul Haq leader of PMLN and other has strongly condemn over the arrest of Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai and called it as a conspiracy against the freedom movement of Kashmiri people.
With the proliferation of Islamophobia in the United States and the spike in hate crimes directed at the Muslim community, organizations to counter these phenomena and to project the truth while at the same time working within the Muslim community for empowerment, are essential if we are to survive as a democracy.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has stepped up to the bat in these arenas. Last week well deserved formal recognition took place in the form of a telephone call from President Barrack Obama to Haris Tarin. Mr. Tarin directs MPAC’s Washington, D. C. office.
During the course of the conversation the President recognized Mr. Tarin’s work with the Muslim community and through that community to the United States. Specifically, he praised Mr. Tarin’s work with Muslim youth, with interfaith clergy and lay persons, and for empowering the contributions of Muslims through civic engagement.
Mr. Tarin replied by telling the President that MPAC has a deep commitment to this nation and to Islam as do other Muslim institutions.
The telephone call is a testament to the success of MPAC in countering Islamophobia and in working within the Muslim community and reaching outward to other communities to establish roots that make Islam an integral part of the American fabric.
Mr. Tarin was raised and educated in Southern California. He is pursing an advanced degree at Georgetown University where he is studying at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
Mr. Tarin, in his capacity as Executive Director, intersects with many government agencies and has addressed numerous conferences and symposia. He is a “go to†person for media outlets.
MPAC was established in 1986. Its vision was and continues to be to establish a vibrant Muslim community and to enrich with Islamic virtues the American society it is a part of. MPAC promotes the leadership of young Muslims, and it is a resource and partner to various government agencies.
Its awards and the programs it has formulated are many. Herewith a few: In partnership with the Progressive Jewish Alliance, MPAC formed New Ground, a group dedicated to Muslim-Jewish understanding; MPAC became a consultant to a television series “Aliens in Americaâ€; MPAC Senior Advisor, Dr Maher Hathout, received the John Allen Bugs Award from the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, and MPAC, after a decade of work, persuaded the Bush administration to desist from use of the term “jihad†in its official communications.
To find out more about the Muslim Public Affairs Council, please access their web site at: www.mpac.org. Mr. Tarin’s work may also be accessed at that web site.
A student lifts a placard as he and others line up to take part in a march for peace in Mumbai July 20, 2011. Students from the Antonio Da Silva high school marched through the streets of Mumbai to condemn the recent bomb attacks in the city.
REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
San Pablo (California)–The explosions in Mumbai last week (the 12th) killed twenty-one with over a hundred wounded in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai. This event should have especial pithiness to Muslims in North America and elsewhere because, although still an overall minority, Delhi’s realm has the second largest Islamic population in the world whereas neighboring Pakistan is overwhelming Muslim.
Of course, the attack upon the Indian Parliament during the first year of this century by non-State actors with the ensuing near-nuclear confrontation that resulted was eventually diffused by the Pakistani Chief Executive despite the far right-wing Hindu chauvinist Government in the Indian Metropole. Fortunately, at the time of the 2008 attacks upon Mumbai, India had a much more rational Centrist administration; so, the consternation within Bharat in 2008 was resolved more diplomatically than in 2001 over the issues arising around the State non-actors.
In 2008, it became evident that the roots of the attacks lay in the injustices within the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir (J. & K.). Whether terrorism is the proper way to conduct insurgency is debatable because it targets civilian rather than military targets, but it is a tactic of asymmetrical warfare wherein the counter-insurgents have an advantage over their irregular opponents, and the rebels believe that terror equalizes the battlefield, and can even bring their fight deep within the Metropolis of the their oppressor, and away from their peripheral homeland.
There is chauvinism within India – and to a lesser extent – within Pakistan that an attack within the border of either is instigated in the capitol of the other. This often ignores the considerable home-grown discontent within their very boundaries. It is true that rogue elements within Rawalpindi’s ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) agency conduct aggressive foreign policy on their own initiative rather than in consultation with Islamabad. Besides non-State actors, they have had allied out-of-control sub-State players in league with them in the 2001 and 2008 incidents, and might linger in the current incident, but it has not been Pakistani governmental policies to initiate these assaults! Unfortunately, today Pakistan has a weak Government and is less likely to contain those elements than with their then strong Executive after the diffusion of the crisis in 2002.
Because of the “radical†right-wing and with their Indian media (those that are) sensationalist along with the Pakistani Center’s inability to contain their reprobate elements has caused a very dangerous bi-State situation. Added to this, the “mercenary†Arab (especially Al’Quaeda’s) entrance into the Kashmiri cause for independence from the Af-Pak region, which has done more harm than good to the Kashmiris themselves, the greater area has become more explosive.
What happened last week is very dangerous indeed. The Indians have taken a fortunate restraint until they can claim to have determined the guilty party and who – if any – were responsible for supporting them.
I, personally, am most worried this will cause the fall of the rational (Indian) Congress ascendancy, and the subsequent ascendance of the fascist-like BJP (the Bhartiya Janata Party), the political wing of the Hindu fundamentalist/casteist RSS (Rashtiya Swamsevak Sangh) who brought the world the assassination of M.K. Gandhi during his fast to end the slaughter ensuing the Partition of British India between the Muslims and Hindus, etc. just after the Independence of Pakistan and the Indian Union in the late 1940s.
I have many friends and colleagues on both sides of the LoC (Line of Control, the de facto frontier between the two South Asian neighbors in Kashmir). During the last fortnight, I have been daily on my phone to the Gulf and Subcontinent to get my learned acquaintances perspectives.
So, far I have been receiving replies of little concern over the recent incident within that region. Whatever, the Kashmir “problem†is the second most dangerous conflict that could lead to lead to a larger conflagration, must be solved! I only hope my resident friends there are right and the (nuclearized) State-level danger will subside with calm heads prevailing.
TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that Tehran was hopeful of completing its section of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline by the end of next year.
“Construction of the pipeline to export Iranian gas to Pakistan is under way, and we hope it will reach the frontier by the end of 2012,†he said of the multi-billion-dollar project after a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari.
President Zardari, who arrived in Tehran on a day-long visit, held two rounds of talks with President Ahmadinejad — first delegation-level talks and then a one-on-one meeting.
The two leaders also reviewed progress on a proposal for the transmission of electricity from Iran to Balochistan.
They expressed confidence that joint efforts would prove helpful in countering terrorism, terming the menace a common enemy for the region and the world.
Mr Ahmadinejad said his country looked forward to a new era in relations with Pakistan.
“Iran is ready to reinforce its cooperation with Pakistan in every field,†the Iranian president said.
Mr Zardari said relations between the neighbours should be strengthened, and proposed that “trade between the two countries be conducted in local currency, and not the dollar, to curb smugglingâ€. He also proposed a bilateral free trade agreement.
The President said Pakistan was already in negotiations with Turkey, Sri Lanka and China for the currency swap arrangement.
He denounced “efforts by our enemies who seek to show that the Pakistan government is unstable by provoking trouble,†saying that those responsible would face justice.
President Zardari praised Iran’s constructive engagement in the trilateral process, recalling last month’s Pakistan-Iran-Afghanistan summit hosted by Tehran.
He urged the Iranian government to consider the creation of an integrated border management regime for tackling militancy and extremism. He said Pakistan and Iran had vital interests in stability and peace of the region.
Mr Zardari called for developing coordination between governments to curb narcotics and human trafficking in the region. He said Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan faced a common menace of drug trafficking and expressed the hope that a trilateral initiative would help counter the curse.
The President said Pakistan and Iran had the potential to undertake joint economic projects in Afghanistan to enhance connectivity, build infrastructure, rail and road links.
Mr Zardari said there was a need to raise bilateral trade to four billion dollars from one billion dollars. He called for working together to identify impediments to implementation of the Pakistan-Iran Preferential Trade Agreement, signed in 2006.
The Iranian president agreed to take full advantage of geo-strategic locations for “ushering in a new era of progressâ€.
About the Afghanistan issue, President Zardari said Pakistan supported the process initiated by President Hamid Karzai for reconciliation and peace. He said Pakistan supported a reconciliation process which must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, adding that Islamabad was ready to provide all possible assistance to Kabul in reconstruction efforts.
It was Mr Zardari’s second visit to Iran in less than a month. He visited Tehran last month to attend the counter-terrorism summit, on the sidelines of which the two countries and Afghanistan reached an agreement to augment cooperation in the fight against militancy.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain and presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar accompanied Mr Zardari.
KHAMENEI LAMBASTS US: Later Mr Zardari called on Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Fars news agency quoted Ayatollah Khamenei as telling the President: “The principal enemy of the Pakistani people and the unity of the country is the West, headed by the United States.â€
Iranian officials have been vocal in their criticism of the prolonged US troop deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which are now set to be drawn down.—Agencies
In the United States, most home owner’s associations have stringent rules for how members must maintain the outer appearance of their houses and even lawns. Members often incur fines and sometimes the wrath of their fellow neighbors for having unkempt lawns or yards full of discarded junk. For this reason, the typical homeowner in America spends a great deal of time manicuring his lawn to perfection.
Just a stone’s throw away, in the Middle East, the majority of homeowners participate in a similar ritual. Houses in the region feature immaculately groomed and grassy front yards. In addition, most homes also have an ornate garden filled with desert shrubs and fruit-bearing date palm trees. Neighbors often compete with one another over whose dates are the sweetest and plumpest. For members of the expatriate community, life is drastically different. The majority of the foreign populace in the Middle East cannot afford to buy luxury homes while others, such as ones residing in Kuwait, are legally barred from buying real estate. Expatriates have little recourse but to rent apartments which are often small despite the hefty monthly rental fee. Due to the lack of space, many expatriates utilize the extra space that terraces and balconies provide.
It is not unusual to find a balcony completely covered in plywood. The space is then transformed into a spare room or even a home office. For others, the balcony serves as a private home garden with large soil filled pots serving as the “landâ€. Thanks to the consistent amount of sunlight in the Middle East, it is very easy to grow tomatoes and herbs right on the balcony. A balcony is also very functional in that it provides space to store unused items and most are fitted with a clothes line perfect for hanging out the wash.
Freedom of balcony usage is typically left in the hands of the tenant and is not mandated by the government. However, in one tiny Gulf municipality, balcony usage has come under fire. In Sharjah, which is a municipality of the United Arab Emirates, authorities are cracking down on tenants with messy balconies. According to the recent balcony laws, tenants are no longer allowed to hang laundry from the balcony, attach a television satellite anywhere on it and storing junk is strictly forbidden. Anyone touting the balcony laws will be fined $68 and paying the initial fine late results in an increased fine of $136.
Sharjah authorities have also launched an all-encompassing media campaign to inform the public about proper balcony maintenance. Leaflets in various languages, including Arabic, are regularly left on the doorsteps of tenants all over the region. The laws are currently being enforced by a special balcony task force that visits neighborhoods and hands out fines for offensive balconies. There is also a special hotline that residents can call to ask questions and report violators.
There is nothing more intimate than the love between mother and child. Marriage is an interesting learning experience, but it cannot compete with the total human sacrifice it takes to produce a child. After bearing the stress in one’s womb for months and months, feeling the weakness and hunger, and finally the labor which cannot ever be described, a new human being arrives. This being suckles on you until your bones ache so that you cannot sleep at night, and yet you long for another one. This is love. This is true love.
“What is love? Does anybody love anybody anyway?†sang Howard Jones, a UK artist, when I was in Junior High School. I still don’t know the answer to these questions.
“The mothers shall give such to their offspring for two whole years, if the father desires to complete the term. But he shall bear the cost of their food and clothing on equitable terms. No soul shall have a burden laid on it greater than it can bear. No mother shall be treated unfairly on account of her child. Nor father on account of his child, an heir shall be chargeable in the same way. If they both decide on weaning, by mutual consent, and after due consultation, there is no blame on them. If ye decide on a foster-mother for your offspring, there is no blame on you, provided ye pay (the mother) what ye offered, on equitable terms. But fear God and know that God sees well what ye do. (Quran 2:233)â€
He shall bear the cost of their food and clothing on equitable terms. No soul shall have a burden laid on it greater than it can bear. No mother shall be treated unfairly on account of her child. These are actually reasonable requests. God laid it down.
So now that we have got that straight, what have we now? A financial exchange. But is there more to life than that? I don’t know yet. But there are people who go through this life never knowing what it was like to fall asleep at their mother’s breast. There are so many of us, especially children of the 70’s, who just never knew that. When we had a nightmare, we had to “understand†that no one was going to cuddle us. We faced this world alone, without any sense of having any rights.
Even the most emotionally detached mother could fall asleep with her child, and this skin contact could even save a child’s life. For life. A scientific study in Brazil showed that mothers who “wore†their premature babies under their clothes with constant skin contact (instead of keeping them in an incubator) were rewarded with higher rates of weight gain and overall health of their babies. Love boosts the immune system. And if you don’t know how to love yet, the first step is lots of long hugs to increase the sense of emotional security, which gives bursts to all the healing hormones your body can release.
Close physical contact is part of Islam. I invited some neighbors to a local iftar and my friend’s husband, who was from Spain, commented that, during the prayer, he had never been so physically close to other men in his entire life. He kind of liked it.
There are so many things we could do wrong in our lives, but if we could at least give our children the emotional security of skin contact at a very early age, we could do well. Even if we are not nursing, how about putting your arm around your child? If you give it a few minutes, he or she might even fall asleep. What’s most important, even more important than the mother’s milk, is knowing that somebody cares. Somebody is there.
We come into this world alone, and we will leave it alone. Nobody will be able to help us. We have only a short time to love one another. Whomever we love, they may be gone tomorrow. We might be gone tomorrow. We need to set boundaries against disrespect, but we must keep an open door policy for those whom we love.
We should never think that our actions will not affect another human being. If we let a child cry himself to sleep, we might think he’ll never remember, but in fact this might be the deciding factor in whether he believes in himself or not. It actually takes someone else to help you realize that you have the right to take up space in this world, when you are new here. No one can do it alone. People who are mistreated or neglected all their lives often curl up and die. In any case their immune system takes a hit.
Christians and Muslims have a dispute because Christians say, “God is Love,†whereas Muslims say, “God is the Lover.†This is a grammatical problem, not a basic issue. There are so many beautiful people out there. Why not love them all?
Love comes from Allah alone. You can never force or will someone to love you back. It is entirely out of your hands. And there is a certain element of comfort in that.
There is somebody who will never refuse your love. That is your child.
Is Murdoch now finished in the UK? As the pursuit of Gordon Brown by the Sunday Times and the Sun blows the hacking scandal into new corners of the old man’s empire, this story begins to feel like the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. The naked attempt to destroy Brown by any means, including hacking the medical files of his sick baby son, means that there is no obvious limit to the story’s ramifications.
The scandal radically changes public perceptions of how politics works, the danger corporate power presents to democracy, and the extent to which it has compromised and corrupted the Metropolitan police, who have now been dragged in so deep they are beginning to look like Murdoch’s private army. It has electrified a dozy parliament and subjected the least accountable and most corrupt profession in Britain – journalism – to belated public scrutiny.
The cracks are appearing in the most unexpected places. Look at the remarkable admission by the rightwing columnist Janet Daley in this week’s Sunday Telegraph. “British political journalism is basically a club to which politicians and journalists both belong,†she wrote. “It is this familiarity, this intimacy, this set of shared assumptions … which is the real corruptor of political life. The self-limiting spectrum of what can and cannot be said … the self-reinforcing cowardice which takes for granted that certain vested interests are too powerful to be worth confronting. All of these things are constant dangers in the political life of any democracy.â€
Most national journalists are embedded, immersed in the society, beliefs and culture of the people they are meant to hold to account.
They are fascinated by power struggles among the elite but have little interest in the conflict between the elite and those they dominate.
They celebrate those with agency and ignore those without.
But this is just part of the problem. Daley stopped short of naming the most persuasive force: the interests of the owner and the corporate class to which he belongs. The proprietor appoints editors in his own image – who impress their views on their staff. Murdoch’s editors, like those who work for the other proprietors, insist that they think and act independently.
It’s a lie exposed by the concurrence of their views (did all 247 News Corp editors just happen to support the invasion of Iraq?), and blown out of the water by Andrew Neil’s explosive testimony in 2008 before the Lords select committee on communications.
The papers cannot announce that their purpose is to ventriloquise the concerns of multimillionaires; they must present themselves as the voice of the people. The Sun, the Mail and the Express claim to represent the interests of the working man and woman. These interests turn out to be identical to those of the men who own the papers.
So the rightwing papers run endless exposures of benefit cheats, yet say scarcely a word about the corporate tax cheats. They savage the trade unions and excoriate the BBC. They lambast the regulations that restrain corporate power. They school us in the extrinsic values – the worship of power, money, image and fame – which advertisers love but which make this a shallower, more selfish country. Most of them deceive their readers about the causes of climate change. These are not the obsessions of working people. They are the obsessions thrust upon them by the multimillionaires who own these papers.
The corporate media is a gigantic astroturfing operation: a fake grassroots crusade serving elite interests. In this respect the media companies resemble the Tea Party movement, which claims to be a spontaneous rising of blue-collar Americans against the elite but was founded with the help of the billionaire Koch brothers and promoted by Murdoch’s Fox News.
Journalism’s primary purpose is to hold power to account. This purpose has been perfectly inverted. Columnists and bloggers are employed as the enforcers of corporate power, denouncing people who criticise its interests, stamping on new ideas, bullying the powerless. The press barons allowed governments occasionally to promote the interests of the poor, but never to hamper the interests of the rich. They also sought to discipline the rest of the media. The BBC, over the last 30 years, became a shadow of the gutsy broadcaster it was, and now treats big business with cringing deference. Every morning at 6.15, the Today programme’s business report grants executives the kind of unchallenged access of an unprecedented level. The rest of the programme seeks out controversy and sets up discussions between opponents, but these people are not confronted by their critics.
So what can be done? Because of the peculiar threat they present to democracy there’s a case to be made for breaking up all majority interests in media companies, and for a board of governors, appointed perhaps by Commons committee, to act as a counterweight to the shareholders’ business interests.
But even if that’s a workable idea, it’s a long way off. For now, the best hope might be to mobilise readers to demand that journalists answer to them, not just their proprietors. One means of doing this is to lobby journalists to commit themselves to a kind of Hippocratic oath. Here’s a rough stab at a first draft. I hope others can improve it. Ideally, I’d like to see the National Union of Journalists building on it and encouraging its members to sign.
‘Our primary task is to hold power to account. We will prioritise those stories and issues which expose the interests of power. We will be wary of the relationships we form with the rich and powerful, and ensure that we don’t become embedded in their society. We will not curry favour with politicians, businesses or other dominant groups by withholding scrutiny of their affairs, or twisting a story to suit their interests.
“We will stand up to the interests of the businesses we work for, and the advertisers which fund them. We will never take money for promulgating a particular opinion, and we will resist attempts to oblige us to adopt one.
“We will recognise and understand the power we wield and how it originates. We will challenge ourselves and our perception of the world as much as we challenge other people. When we turn out to be wrong, we will say so.â€
I accept that this doesn’t directly address the power relations that govern the papers. But it might help journalists to assert a measure of independence, and readers to hold them to it. Just as voters should lobby their MPs to represent them and not just the whips, readers should seek to drag journalists away from the demands of their editors.
The oath is one possible tool that could enhance reader power.
If you don’t like it, suggest a better idea. Something has to change: never again should a half a dozen oligarchs be allowed to dominate and corrupt the life of this country.
We have been blessed to be this close to the holy month of Ramadan, a great month of brotherhood, sisterhood, and spiritual advancement. Everyone is getting their Ramadan-wear ready. Lines of e’thr are arrayed on tables, and thobes (robes) and shalwar kameeses (long shirts) are dug out from the closet. But, there is some conflict.
One man looking at the one Saudi thobe he got as a gift a year ago realizes it’s a bit worn. He thinks in urdu,†Kash mera paas aik neya thobe tha ( I wish I had a new thobe).†Another looks at his Friday thobe sequestered between his stylish array of dress shirts and sweaters and thinks, “Man, I wish thobes had a bit more variety.†A third comes back from work, and upon seeing his thobe back from the dry cleaners thinks, “I wish I had a thobe with enough presence to wear at a business meeting.†A sister, after running around the mall all afternoon, stops for a breath of air, and thinks, “All that looking, and I still haven’t found one proper outfit I can wear to the masjid.â€
Brothers and Sisters, look no further. There are options out there. First, I would suggest looking up your local Muslim all-in-one stores, or indian pakistani clothing store. If you still can’t find what you are looking for, there is still hope. If you attended the recent ISNA convention of 2011 in Chicago you probably could not help but notice the two Muslim-wear powerhouses, Kamani Clothing and Lawung Ltd. On their two websites, www.kamanionline.com and www.lawungdirect.com , respectively, they have taken Muslim-wear to a whole new level. Kamani clothing has a variety of thobe styles: Legacy, Prime, Ideal, and Classic. Lawung has a nice variety of children’s thobes along with their adult collections
They have integrated styles reminiscent of brand name formal and casual wear into the thobe. They have re-invented the thobe as we know it. Their items are modern, sleek , and affordable. Prices range from about thirty five dollars to eighty dollars, depending on what style you choose; shipping and handling is an additional cost. However, these items would be ideal for Ramadan-wear for you or as a gift. Lawung is based in the United Kingdom, and Kamani Clothing is run by the young Midwestern scholar Mufti Hussain Kamani.
From ’Abdullaah Ibn Mas’ood (R) who said that the Prophet (s) said, “No one will enter Paradise who has an atom’s weight of pride in his heart.†A man said, “What if a man likes his clothes to look good and his shoes to look good?†He said, “Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. Pride means denying the truth and looking down on people.†(Muslim) Muslims should try their best to be clean, neat, and nice, especially during Ramadan; this allows the environment in the masjid to continue to be inviting, even with the higher number of attendees.
Many sisters try wearing hijab for the first time during the holy month. Be supportive of such sisters, instead of ruthlessly criticizing there slight hijabesque blunders. If you are such a sister or are just looking for tutorial on how to wear the hijab in different styles, search “stylecoveredvideo†on youtube. Stylecoveredvideo is the Youtube channel by the Muslim designer Hana Tajima-Simpson, and her tutorials may make the transition to wearing hijab a bit easier.
Hopefully, you all find the Ramadanwear you are looking for, locally, online, or elsewhere.
A few weeks ago, a former Palestinian Muslim, who is now an ultra conservative Christian equated Islam with terrorism describing the two inseparable. There is nothing new in what the so called former PLO terrorist said or says on a regular basis. In the last 10 years, several individuals claiming to speak on behalf of Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism have spoken openly against Islam and Muslim Americans in particular. Expressing one’s opinion is everyone’s right and that right must be preserved even if it is based on misconception or lies.
What is problematic is that the Homeland Security invited the so called terrorist-turned Christian to an official event attended by more than 300 law enforcement officials in South Dakota. This is a violation of our constitution that clearly indicates that the people’s tax dollars would not be spent in either promoting or targeting a particular religion. The so called expert was paid 5,000 plus other expenses. In other word, the our tax dollars were spent on supporting someone whose anti-Islam agenda is well known. If the Homeland Security had invited a Muslim American to counter his argument, one could have argued that the purpose of the event was to have a balanced perspective. However, by giving money and podium to an avid anti-Islam fanatic, the Homeland Security has revealed its hatred of Islam, a crime which is in breach of the constitution and which deserves to be thoroughly investigated.
Ten after the September 11 attack, Muslim Americans are still deemed unfit by many law enforcement agencies or agents to be partners in the country’s fight against terrorism. This policy or attitude is hurting the country and wasting its tax dollars money. Seemingly, the Homeland Security and other federal and state agencies have wasted millions of dollars in rewarding anti-Muslim and anti-Islam experts on terrorism by giving them legitimacy and authenticity through invitation to officially organized events for state and federal agents.
Most of the so called experts on Islam belong to several religious groups who anti-Islam position is well known. They use the Tax payers money and resources to promote their religious agenda and to make money for themselves. The country does not benefit from their expertise.
One is entitled to his or her opinion on Islam or any other faith but when that opinion is given legitimacy by agencies that are meant to uphold the constitution and the citizens, then it deserves the attention of all those who are serious about the sanctity and supremacy of the constitution. As far as opinions against Islam are concerned, we Muslims must be aware of the task that we have at hand, i.e. challenging the misconception and informing the country and the world that there is another side of the explanation that can be offered only by those practice this faith and who understands its in and out better than those so called experts who have found a new opportunity to mint money from the new venture that we can term as “Islamic Threat to the West.â€
It is time to stop giving Herman Cain’s unapologetic bigotry a free pass. The man and his poison need to be seen clearly and taken seriously.
Imagine the reaction if a major-party presidential candidate — one who, like Cain, shows actual support in the polls — said he “wouldn’t be comfortable†appointing a Jew to a Cabinet position. Imagine the outrage if this same candidate loudly supported a community’s efforts to block Mormons from building a house of worship.
But Cain’s prejudice isn’t against Mormons or Jews, it’s against Muslims. Open religious prejudice is usually enough to disqualify a candidate for national office—but not, apparently, when the religion in question is Islam.
Sunday, Cain took the position that any community in the nation has the right to prohibit Muslims from building a mosque. The sound you hear is the collective hum of the Founding Fathers whirring like turbines in their graves.
Freedom of religion is, of course, guaranteed by the Constitution. There’s no asterisk or footnote exempting Muslims from this protection.
Cain says he knows this. Obviously, he doesn’t care.
Cain’s remarks came as “Fox News Sunday†host Chris Wallace was grilling him about his obsession with the attempt by some citizens of Murfreesboro to halt construction of a mosque. Wallace noted that the mosque has operated at a nearby site for more than 20 years, and asked, sensibly, what the big deal is.
Cain launched into an elaborate conspiratorial fantasy about how the proposed place of worship is “not just a mosque for religious purposes†and how there are “other things going on.â€
This imagined nefarious activity, it turns out, is a campaign to subject the nation and the world to Islamic religious law. Anti-mosque activists in Murfreesboro are “objecting to the fact that Islam is both a religion and a set of laws, sharia law,†Cain said. “That’s the difference between any one of our other traditional religions where it’s just about religious purposes.â€
Let’s return to the real world for a moment and see how bogus this argument is. Presumably, Cain would include Roman Catholicism among the “traditional religions†that deserve constitutional protection. It happens that our legal system recognizes divorce, but the Catholic Church does not. This, by Cain’s logic, must constitute an attempt to impose “Vatican law†on an unsuspecting nation.
Similarly, Jewish congregations that observe kosher dietary laws must be part of a sinister plot to deprive America of its God-given bacon.
Wallace was admirably persistent in pressing Cain to either own up to his prejudice or take it back. “But couldn’t any community then say we don’t want a mosque in our community?†Wallace asked. “They could say that,†Cain replied.
“So you’re saying any community, if they want to ban a mosque. . .,â€
Wallace began.
“Yes, they have the right to do that,†Cain said.
For the record, they don’t. For the record, there is no attempt to impose sharia law; Cain is taking arms against a threat that exists only in his own imagination. It makes as much sense to worry that the Amish will force us all to commute by horse and buggy.
This demonization of Muslims is not without precedent. In the early years of the 20th century, throughout the South, white racists used a similar “threat†— the notion of black men as sexual predators who threatened white women — to justify an elaborate legal framework of segregation and repression that endured for decades.
As Wallace pointed out, Cain is an African American who is old enough to remember Jim Crow segregation. “As someone who, I’m sure, faced prejudice growing up in the ’50s and the ’60s, how do you respond to those who say you are doing the same thing?â€
Cain’s response was predictable: “I tell them that’s absolutely not true, because it is absolutely, totally different. . . . We had some laws that were restricting people because of their color and because of their color only.â€
Wallace asked, “But aren’t you willing to restrict people because of their religion?â€
Said Cain: “I’m willing to take a harder look at people that might be terrorists.â€
Generations of bigots made the same argument about black people.
They’re irredeemably different. Many of them may be all right, but some are a threat. Therefore, it’s necessary to keep all of them under scrutiny and control.
There aren’t many positive aspects to the looming possibility of a U.S. debt default. But there has been, I have to admit, an element of comic relief — of the black-humor variety — in the spectacle of so many people who have been in denial suddenly waking up and smelling the crazy.
A number of commentators seem shocked at how unreasonable Republicans are being. “Has the G.O.P. gone insane?†they ask.
Why, yes, it has. But this isn’t something that just happened, it’s the culmination of a process that has been going on for decades. Anyone surprised by the extremism and irresponsibility now on display either hasn’t been paying attention, or has been deliberately turning a blind eye.
And may I say to those suddenly agonizing over the mental health of one of our two major parties: People like you bear some responsibility for that party’s current state.
Let’s talk for a minute about what Republican leaders are rejecting.
President Obama has made it clear that he’s willing to sign on to a deficit-reduction deal that consists overwhelmingly of spending cuts, and includes draconian cuts in key social programs, up to and including a rise in the age of Medicare eligibility. These are extraordinary concessions. As The Times’s Nate Silver points out, the president has offered deals that are far to the right of what the average American voter prefers — in fact, if anything, they’re a bit to the right of what the average Republican voter prefers!
Yet Republicans are saying no. Indeed, they’re threatening to force a U.S. default, and create an economic crisis, unless they get a completely one-sided deal. And this was entirely predictable.
First of all, the modern G.O.P. fundamentally does not accept the legitimacy of a Democratic presidency — any Democratic presidency. We saw that under Bill Clinton, and we saw it again as soon as Mr. Obama took office.
As a result, Republicans are automatically against anything the president wants, even if they have supported similar proposals in the past. Mitt Romney’s health care plan became a tyrannical assault on American freedom when put in place by that man in the White House. And the same logic applies to the proposed debt deals.
Put it this way: If a Republican president had managed to extract the kind of concessions on Medicare and Social Security that Mr. Obama is offering, it would have been considered a conservative triumph. But when those concessions come attached to minor increases in revenue, and more important, when they come from a Democratic president, the proposals become unacceptable plans to tax the life out of the U.S. economy.
Beyond that, voodoo economics has taken over the G.O.P.
Supply-side voodoo — which claims that tax cuts pay for themselves and/or that any rise in taxes would lead to economic collapse — has been a powerful force within the G.O.P. ever since Ronald Reagan embraced the concept of the Laffer curve. But the voodoo used to be contained. Reagan himself enacted significant tax increases, offsetting to a considerable extent his initial cuts.
And even the administration of former President George W. Bush refrained from making extravagant claims about tax-cut magic, at least in part for fear that making such claims would raise questions about the administration’s seriousness.
Recently, however, all restraint has vanished — indeed, it has been driven out of the party. Last year Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, asserted that the Bush tax cuts actually increased revenue — a claim completely at odds with the evidence — and also declared that this was “the view of virtually every Republican on that subject.†And it’s true: even Mr. Romney, widely regarded as the most sensible of the contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination, has endorsed the view that tax cuts can actually reduce the deficit.
Which brings me to the culpability of those who are only now facing up to the G.O.P.’s craziness.
Here’s the point: those within the G.O.P. who had misgivings about the embrace of tax-cut fanaticism might have made a stronger stand if there had been any indication that such fanaticism came with a price, if outsiders had been willing to condemn those who took irresponsible positions.
But there has been no such price. Mr. Bush squandered the surplus of the late Clinton years, yet prominent pundits pretend that the two parties share equal blame for our debt problems. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, proposed a supposed deficit-reduction plan that included huge tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, then received an award for fiscal responsibility.
So there has been no pressure on the G.O.P. to show any kind of responsibility, or even rationality — and sure enough, it has gone off the deep end. If you’re surprised, that means that you were part of the problem.
There was an Interfaith Health Fair, cosponsored by the CIOM & Jewish Community Relations Council. Jewish, Muslim and Chaldean physicians and health care providers joined together on Tuesday, July 19.
Organized by the CIOM and the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Interfaith Health Fair provided free medical screenings for residents of Detroit. The program targeted the working poor who do not qualify for government-provided or other no-or-low cost health care programs. DTE Energy Foundation, Great Lakes Health Plan, Henry Ford Health System and Huda Clinic sponsored the health fair. About 100 health care providers and volunteers participated in the program.
The July health fair is the second free clinic sponsored by Detroit’s Jewish and Muslim communities, which joined together to host a similar program last November. In addition to giving clients access to potentially life-saving information and referrals for their health care, the health fair offers the participating health care professionals a meaningful interfaith experience and the opportunity to get to know their colleagues in each other’s faith community.
Previously, the Muslims joined the Jewish community for Mitzvah Day on Christmas Day 2009. Volunteers enable their Christian neighbors to celebrate Christmas at home with their families.
Protocols were in place for patient referrals and, if necessary, urgent treatment. The clinic featured education stations with informational literature, and social workers were on hand to assist with referrals to direct service agencies. In addition the Muslim Center Soup Kitchen in cooperation with the Pakistan Women’s Association was providing free meals to the patients.
Tuesday, July 19th – 4 PM to 8 PM; at the Muslim Center Mosque and Community Center, 1605 W. Davison Avenue, in Detroit.; Victor Ghalib Begg – 586-808-2864, vgbegg@gmail.com
Seated, left to right: Steve Downs, Abayomi Azikiwe, Dawud Walid. Behind podium: Moderator Debbie Johnson
Detroit–July 17–There are several problems facing the Muslim community in the United States. One problem is that Muslims are sometimes targeted by the FBI and other law enforcement bureaus, framed for plots they are not even intelligent enough to hatch themselves, and then arrested and prosecuted for conspiracy to commit crimes they never understood–sometimes they are goaded by troublemakers, wolves in sheeps’ clothing, paid by the FBI in proportion to the crimes they are able to get Muslims to commit.
Another, much worse problem, is that inside the Muslim community we give excuses and podiums to the apologists for Muslim terrorists and troublemakers–who are inherently dangerous to the Muslim community by virtue of their commitment to goals antithetical to the teachings of Islam.
And so this past weekend in Detroit about 100 people gathered at The Shrine of the Black Madonna to complain about government “preemptive prosecution.†However, there was the problem that the meeting supported some Muslims who had suffered prosecution for very real offenses.
Not least among those is Tarek Mehanna, a pharmacy graduate who apparently travelled around the world (to Yemen) to seek training to fight against Americans, and who planned to kill numerous innocent civilians at a local mall, and went so far as to conspire to commit this attack. You may say “innocent until proven guilty†but first read the complaint, 32 pages of damning evidence, with countless detailed samples of Mehanna’s assiduous efforts to commit terrorism, complete with evidence from two of his coconspirators who backed out of his plot and turned states’ evidence, and also audio-taped conversations in which Mehanna planned terrorist acts.
Tarek’s brother Tamer spoke in support of him this weekend in Detroit, however Tamer’s speech almost amounted to further evidence against his brother, as he spoke for about 15 minutes, railing against the existence in the Muslim community of “snitches.†The use of the term “snitch†already implies that his brother is guilty–as usually a snitch is someone who reveals what was intended to be a secret. The implication is that Tarek had committed conspiracy, wanted to keep it secret, and Tamer is angry because the “snitches†revealed the secret.
But thank God they did. Better for Tarek to rot in jail, frustrated in his intention to blot out the lives of innocent civilians.
If all Tamer Mehanna can say for 15 minutes is that snitches are bad, he begs the question whether his brother is fully guilty, and also whether he himself is supportive of his brother’s alleged crimes. But most of the people discussed at the meeting Saturday appeared far more innocent than Tarek Mehanna. Behind the speakers was a board on which were posted the names of about 100 people termed victims of preemptive prosecution.
Present at the meeting were many activists on behalf of many of those “preemptively prosecuted,†and the most effective presentation was a video about Sami Al-Arian, which advocated his innocence, and expressed the capricious nature of the US prosecution of his case–where when Al-Arian was acquitted of all charges they rearrested him and continued to detain him.
This event was slightly misguided in the ways mentioned above, but the point still stands that the US government has overplayed its hand in the war on terror, by brutally pursuing many who are in fact innocent, and by deliberately detaining them beyond the point at which it becomes obvious that they are innocent.
LOMBARD, IL–The Muslim Community Association of the Western Suburbs has presented a revised set of proposals to the Dupage County Board in hopes for approval for a new mosque plan.
The groups wants to construct a roughly 43,000-square-foot mosque on nearly 4 acres along the south side of Roosevelt Road, just east of I-355, the Daily Herald reports.
In a move that could help win county board support for the conditional-use permit request, the mosque plan has been modified to include partial access to Roosevelt.
Mark Daniel, the group’s attorney, said IDOT officials have agreed to allow a right-turn only lane for vehicles exiting the site. Anyone traveling to the mosque still would have to use to use nearby Lawler Avenue to enter the parking lot.
The board could issue a ruling as early as next week.
Laredo to have new mosque
LAREDO,TX–Laredo will soon have a new mosque to cater to the growing needs of the Muslim community in the area. Previously they used to worship at rented spaces.
The new space will be close to 2,000 sq. feet and will be able to accommodate the school they are currently running.
Dr. Zakariah Hamdan,one of the leaders of the project, told a local news channel “for many years there hasn’t been a place for the Muslim community to perform their prayers and practice aspects of the religion. So this will be a very important step.â€
Leaders also said they hope this will be an attraction to draw more people of the Muslim faith that are interested in living here.
Bilal Ahmed serves as the faculty speaker at commencement
ROCHESTER,NY–Dr. Bilal Ahmed, associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Rochester Medical School, was selected by the Class of 2011 to serve as the faculty speaker at the commencement. His well received speech focused on adding the human touch to the medical profession.
He is closely involved with resident and medical student education and has received more than 30 teaching awards from the University in the last 10 years.
His particular areas of interest are bedside teaching and practice based learning.
He is currently boarded in Internal Medicine, as well as in Hospice and Palliative care.
Zarina Jamal wins scholarship
ROXBURY,MA–Zarina Jamal, a graduating senior of O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science, is among the few students who have been honored with the Blackstone/Franklin Square Neighborhood Association’s annual scholarship. It is given to students who attain oustanding merit or contribute to the community in unique ways. Jamal was selected for the pro-active measures she took in launching her school’s tennis team. She will be attending the Wake Forest University in the coming semester.
Clearing misconceptions about Islam at California Fair
SACRAMENTO, CA–The Why Islam? group has set up a booth at the California State Fair to educate the public about Islam. So far hundreds of people have stopped by and asked questions. The group has been holding a booth at the fair since 2008. “I think it will be as good or better than last year,†said Shane Yoder, president of the Sacramento Chapter Islamic Circle of North America, which sponsored the WhyIslam? boot, told the Sacramento Bee.
The State Fair booth is only part of an effort in the Sacramento area to educate non-Muslims about the faith, said Yoder. ICNA, which focuses on outreach and education of Islam, is sponsoring a billboard campaign – 16 will appear in the region next month – coinciding with the holy month of Ramadan.
The group will also give 500 backpacks to needy children.
Houston, Texas: Houston Police Chief Charles A. McClelland, Jr. proudly presented HPD Lieutenant Harry Zamora with the Medal of Valor Award at a ceremony on July 06 at the Fondren Police Station.
On February 22, Lieutenant Zamora saw an elderly man trapped in a Cadillac engulfed in flames on the inside shoulder of the Southwest Freeway. Several citizens braved the flames in order to lift the vehicle away from the guard rail so Lieutenant Zamora could open the door and free the man. Lieutenant Zamora suffered third degree burns to his hand in the process.
It was those actions which prompted Chief McClelland to present Lieutenant Zamora with the department’s most prestigious award.
“I’ve known Lieutenant Zamora for a long time,†said HPD Chief McClelland. “He has always been a dedicated professional and a dedicated police officer,†he said.
“Heroes always think of themselves last and clearly Lieutenant Zamora’s actions fall into that category. However, they go to the heart and soul of what HPD is all about,†Chief McClelland added.
“All I remember is seeing the vehicle completely engulfed in flames. There were pieces flying off and it was exploding,†said Lieutenant Zamora. “The heat was so intense, I knew I was going to get burned, I just didn’t know how badly I was going to get burned,†he added.
“I’m deeply honored to be receiving this award today,†said Lieutenant Harry Zamora. “But it is also a sad reminder that Mr. Lloyd Sanchez passed away shortly after the incident.â€
Lieutenant Zamora’s actions were much appreciated by Mr. Sanchez’s daughter.
“April told me she was thankful we were able to get her father out of the car and get him to the hospital so she had time to make the trip from Dallas and say goodbye,†said Lieutenant Zamora.
April Sanchez is now creating the Sanchez-Zamora Foundation in honor of her father and Lieutenant Zamora. Proceeds will go towards helping other burn victims. For more information email the foundation at sanchezzamorafoundation@gmail.com.
