NTM 1102 | NewTrendMag.org

NewTrendMag.org News # 1102 [ Arabic ][ Chinese ][ Deutsch ][ Español ][ Français ][ Italiano ][ Korean ]

Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief

Mohurram 12,1428/February 1, 2007 #10

Saudi Prince Turki bin Sultan hoisted with his own petard! Scroll way down to sudden removal of Sis. Yvonne Ridley from Islam Radio.

The Corporate/Zionist media have censored the news that EIGHT Black Panther leaders have been arrested on the basis of an alleged attack which took place 36 years back!
To placate the Black community and as a smoke screen for this dastardly act of revenge, the media and the government have been hyping the story of two White men who have been arrested on charges of murder committed against 2 Black teenagers during the Civil Rights movement.
Murder of young Black men at the hands of police is a common occurrence in U.S. cities. So why the publicity about a 34 year old case? Our observers say, it was seemingly meant to distract attention from the arrests of the Black Panthers. PLEASE SCROLL ALL the way DOWN to our exclusive report.

Prof. Sami al-Arian, distinguished Muslim and Palestinian, is resisting his continuing oppression in prison. It is Day 11 of his hunger strike. To show your support and to protest, go to: www.freesamialarian.com

Announcement
Hand Up Not a Hand Out: a radio program that will feature interviews with survivors of abuse, organizers of domestic violence awareness organizations and professionals who work with them. It will air very late in February on Raw Deen Radio Station (an Internet station) out of Houston, insh'Allah. We are planning the show now and selling advertising. You can have your business advertise, event, etc. for as little as $15 per show. Call (800) 285-9489 pin #00 or email haleem1@aol.com
for details.

Two Letters about "Imam" Magid Who Visited Holocaust Museum

From an Angry Supporter of Magid

take me off of this email list as I am not a supporter of such filthy attacks against a scholar of Islam Imam Magid. Fear Allah and confront Imam Magid yourself instead of assuming such nonsense as you have put forth in this hateful newsletter.

Iboo Zuberi

From Dr. Omar Afzal: Magid Supporter Mansoor Kazi was President of MYNA, Puppet Youth Group of ISNA

Dear Br. Kaukab,

You hit the nail right at the head. As long as the Muslims do not understand that Islam is "La Ilaaha..." negation of the Taghoot they will be happy with "Buniyal Islaam-u 'ala Khamsin."

You have personally experienced how MSA of the 70s slowly inched from La Ilaaha to Muslim nationalism of the present day ISNA. How do you expect Ex-MYNA president to find snitching wrong? These kids are brainwashed to believe that Islam is nothing more than a Muslim name.

Omar

New Trend Way Ahead of the curve:
[A pat on our own back!]
Readers: Do you remember New Trend's analysis of the alleged London plot which the British claimed involved Pakistanis working on the concoction of liquids to create explosives on planes! We had pointed out that the whole thing was bogus and along with the British, Gen. Musharraf's regime probably had a hand in creating the scare.
Months later, now MSNBC TV's commentator, Keith Obermann has come out openly to say that it was a bogus plot. In fact he is faulting President Bush for having brought it up in his State of the Union speech.
[Millions of Americans suffered anxiety and loss of their gatorade and lipsticks on their air trips owing to this bogus story.]

In addition, New Trend had debunked the alleged plot by Haitian Muslims in Florida to blow up the tower in Chicago. Remember that? Again, MSNBC's commentator Keith Obermann ridiculed Bush for counting the arrests of the Haitians among the successes against terrorism. We were months ahead of MSNBC!

New Trend was the ONLY publication which came out with analysis to undermine the two stories. at the time they were aired. We reach out regularly to MSNBC. There can be little doubt that they picked up our analysis, directly or indirectly.

Imam Husain's Betrayal by Shi'ism: Return to the Qur'an and Authentic Hadith only Way out of Sectarianism: Brief History of Shi'ism & Focus on Iraq
by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D

The grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, Husain ibn Ali, may Allah be pleased with both, was martyred on the 10th of Muharram in the year 61 of the Hijra [October 10, 680 c.e.] Throughout the centuries, mainstream Islam has gained inspiration and example from Husain's stand against tyranny, corruption and kingship. In our own times Allama Iqbal and Abul 'Ala Maudoodi extolled the virtues of Husain, r.a., in their writings. Countless millions of Muslims around the world named their male children after Husain and his elder brother Hasan, r.a.

However, as religion became more and more conventional and Islamic communities were mislead into cultural, tribal and nationalistic tendencies, the original message of Husain, r.a., was lost and was replaced by sectarianism based on fabricated stories.

Essential to any understanding of the tragedy of Kerbala, where Husain, r.a., was killed along with male members of his family, is the fact that during the time of Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, and the Rightly Guided Caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali, may Allah exalt them, there were NO Shias or Sunnis. Islam does not recognize or legitimize sects. There is only ONE Islam.

So how did this catastrophe for the world of Islam come about that many Shi'as and Sunnis do not consider each other Muslims and some of them are intent on destroying each other? How did this terrible betrayal come about that the Shi'as of Iraq welcomed the storm troopers of the United States into the very heartland of Islam and consider them their saviors and liberators?

History is a teacher here. These are a few highlights of Muslim history related to the emergence of Shi'ite sectarianism. Remember during this discussion that Islam for us is only the Qur'an and the authenticated example of the Prophet, pbuh:

Tribalism and narrow family loyalties, which Islam had defeated, started re-surfacing after the ghastly murder of 'Usman, r.a., the third of the rightly guided Caliphs. 'Ayesha Siddiqa, r.a., tried very hard to bring the murderers to justice but the murderers brought Ali, r.a., forward as their leader and refused to listen to Ayesha, r.a., though she gave khutbas for 24 days in her efforts to bring about a just solution.
After 'Ayesha's, r.a, efforts failed, a long tribal war ensued between the Ummayads, led by Muawiyya, r.a., and the followers of Ali, r.a. The net result was that the Caliphate was undermined and kingship emerged. Ali, r.a., was killed by one of his own supporters. Ali's, r.a., leadership problems created dissension within his own ranks.
After the murder of Ali, r.a., his elder son Hasan, r.a., made peace with the Ummayads and the Muslims re-united. During the rule of Muawiyya, r.a, the forces of Islam scored major victories against the surrounding empires. These victories in their brilliance can only be compared with the great successes during the Caliphate of 'Umar, r.a.
Muawiyya, r.a., harbored a a desire to be king, rather than Caliph. Before he died, he obtained support from notable sections of the community for the designation of his son Yazeed as the next "Caliph."
Yazeed, who had been a good Muslim in his early years, gradually receded into dissolution, corruption, tyranny and all the vices of Kingship. Husain, r.a., rose against his regime and proceeded to Kufa where his supporters [literally "Shia's"] had promised to pledge allegiance to him and to make him the Caliph.
Husain, r.a., was betrayed by the Shi'as of Kufa. Seeing him left alone in the desert, the Governor appointed by Yazeed surrounded his small caravan at Kerbala. He died fighting to the last, along with all but one male in his family.
After the martyrdom of Husain, r.a., the masses of Muslims repeatedly rose in rebellion against the Umayyad rulers and and tried to bring to power people from the family of Ali and Fatima [may Allah be pleased with them]. THIS WAS NOT A SECTARIAN CAUSE but was a popular movement among the Muslim masses which intensified as the atrocities of the Umayyad kings increased in ferocity.
The family of Abbas, r.a., an uncle of the Prophet, pbuh, with the help of the Persians, relatively new converts to Islam, USED THE POPULARITY of the FATIMIDS, the descendants of Hasan and Husain, to overthrow the Umayads. A general slaughter of the Umayads followed.
Once the Abbasids gained power, they marginalized the Fatimids while paying lip service and tokens of esteem to the descendants of Hasan and Husain.
During the centuries of Abbasid rule, some of the Abbasid "Caliphs" tried to curry favor with the masses by encouraging sectarian activities in the name of the "Shias" of Ali, r.a., and Husain, r.a. Thus we find the emergence of MOURNING CEREMONIES, the rituals of self-flagellation and formalized passion plays about Kerbala.
[These are alien to Islam.]
The MOURNING on ASHURA was instituted by the Buwayhid ruler Mu'izz al-Dawla in the year 351 after Hijra [962 c.e.] It has no basis in Islam.
With the decline and breakup of the Abbasid "caliphate," various versions of Shi'ism emerged and took hold among tiny segments of the ever expanding Muslim domain.
In our own times, starting with the era of European colonialism, TWO opposing TENDENCIES have taken hold in the Muslim world as follows in simplified form:
From among the majority of Muslims, the followers of the Sunnah of Muhammad, pbuh, have emerged reform movements which urge Muslims to FOCUS on the BASIC TEXTS of Islam, the Qur'an and the authentic Hadith. Thus Islamic Schools of Thought, which appertain to the era of Kingship, came under critical scrutiny. More recently we have the SALAFI movement and the Ahle Hadith movement insisting that all activity in the name of Islam must be proven to be integral to the basic Islamic texts or be discarded.
By contrast the PROBLEM with Shi'ism has been the EXPANSION of FABRICATED STORIES and an ever increasing CONDEMNATION of the Muslim Ummah. As the Shi'as kept on with this process of EXPANDED FABRICATIONS, they moved towards abuse and vilification of the Prophet's Companions, Sahabah, r.a. The Muslim world has been shocked to receive insults from Shi'as aimed above all at 'Ayesha, r.a., and the first three Rightly Guided Caliphs, Abu Bakr, Umar and Usman, may Allah exalt them.
Shi'ism is based on the basic idea which Islam REJECTS: that spiritual value resides in ONLY ONE FAMILY, that of Ali, r.a., and Fatima, r.a., and only through the two sons of Ali, Hasan and Husain, NOT his other children.
Over centuries, ALIENATION has been the hallmark of the Shi'a community. They have come up with incredible story that the 12th imam of the Shi'as, who disappeared when he was a child of 12, MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS BACK, will re-emerge and fill the world with justice.
The Shrines of the 12 Shi'a imams are venerated, and in some cases, the people allegedly buried there are prayed to and worshipped. Scholars are not sure whether there were 12 imams, and then they are not sure where they are buried, but that has not deterred the Shi'as from carrying on their shrine-related activities.
Because the world is in a transitory stage before the 12th imam emerges, as the Shi'as believe, hence temporary marriage or MUT'AH has been legitimized in Shi'a mythology, a practice seen as fornication by almost all Muslims who are not Shi'as.
NOW WE COME TO THE SITUATION in the MIDDLE EAST: In the post colonial era, the rise of Muslim nationalism led to European withdrawal. However, the Europeans installed westernized elites in each country they left. They also created "ISRAEL" in the Muslim heartland and gave Kashmir to India. The "Arab countries" are European creations, each with its clique of secularized rulers.
IRAN became the exception. Imam Khomeini led an Islamic revolution, overthrew the American power structure in Iran and tried to link up with Islamic movements around the world. Unfortunately, Imam Khomeini's leadership cadres were decimated by American agents. The lower level leadership which took over was sectarian and nationalistic.
The horrors of the Iran-Iraq war fuelled Iranian sense of isolation. Later in his life Saddam Hussein changed, became very nationalistic and then blatantly Islamic. IRAN DID NOT CHANGE and REMAINED FIXATED on HATRED OF SADDAM, thus playing into American hands. The passing away of Imam Khomeini, to a major extent, put an end to the Islamic element in the Iranian revolution.
The betrayal of Imam Husain's message in our times came from the same area, southern Iraq, where the original betrayal took place. The Shias of Iraq and the American military armada worked hand-in-glove. The Muslim world watched in horror as the Americans shelled the mosque of Abu Hanifah and hit the tomb of Abdul Qadir Jilani. The entire city of FALLUJAH was wiped out, house by house, mosque by mosque during the nights of Ramadan and Lailatul qadr. THE SHIAS WATCHED IN SILENT GLEE and continued to help the invaders. The Islamic movement established itself in western Iraq, particularly five cities. The Americans destroyed the five cities, including their mosques and Islamic schools because these were being run by al-Qaidah. The Shias did not budge and continued to help the invaders.
Then the Shia shrine in Samarra was blown up. Who and why remains a mystery. It's a Sunni city and no one worshipped at the shrine. As the news came out, coordinated attacks were launched on 100 Sunni mosques in the Baghdad area.
After that, death squads went to work, reportedly trained by Iran and directed, directly or indirectly, by Moqtada al-Sadr, who in turn is part of the al-Maliki "government" which is supported by both Bush and Tehran. Thousands of Sunnis were executed at night and their bodies dumped in the desert, in an effort to "cleanse" Baghdad of Sunnis. In turn, ferocious resistance attacks have hit U.S. troops, Shi'ite police, Shi'ite troops and in many cases innocent Shia civilians.
The Shia exultation at the murder of Saddam Hussein, who resisted America and "Israel" to the bitter end, has made most Muslims unsympathetic to Shia causes. Every night, the Zionist/corporate media try to highlight the suffering of Shias while totally censoring the suffering of the majority of the Iraqi people who are Sunnis.
[For the media, the people of Iraq are simply "millions of terrorists" who deserve to be killed.]

Serious efforts should be made to put an end to violence against civilians. Shias need to become self-critical and explain to the Muslim world how they can claim to be followers of Husain, r.a., ibn Ali, r.a. when they are the close associates of America in the war on Islam.

What Really Happened in Najaf?
Jeff Severns Guntzel, Electronic Iraq, 31 January 2007

In today's Independent, Patrick Cockburn writes:

There are growing suspicions in Iraq that the official story of the battle outside Najaf between a messianic Iraqi cult and the Iraqi security forces supported by the US, in which 263 people were killed and 210 wounded, is a fabrication. The heavy casualties may be evidence of an unpremeditated massacre.

A picture is beginning to emerge of a clash between an Iraqi Shia tribe on a pilgrimage to Najaf and an Iraqi army checkpoint that led the US to intervene with devastating effect. The involvement of Ahmed al-Hassani (also known as Abu Kamar), who believed himself to be the coming Mahdi, or Messiah, appears to have been accidental.

The story emerging on independent Iraqi websites and in Arabic newspapers is entirely different from the government's account of the battle with the so-called "Soldiers of Heaven", planning a raid on Najaf to kill Shia religious leaders.

The cult denied it was involved in the fighting, saying it was a peaceful movement.

Read all of Cockburn's piece here.

Here is our own translation of an eyewitness account posted on the Al-Iraq news site:

It all started at six am on Sunday, January 28, 2007, as the Hatimi convoy reached the outskirts of Najaf for the Ashura celebration. Hatimi is one of the largest Arab tribes of the south. They live between Najaf and Diwaniyyeh.

The convoy included 200 persons from the tribe and who came from all over the country to participate in Ashura. When they arrived in Zerqa, northeast of Najaf, they were greeted by the Kazaal tribe. The Kazaals and the Hawatmis – members of Hatimi tribe - are tribes known for their resistance to the British colonization last century and their fierce opposition to the US occupation this century. They were among the first Shiite tribes that joined hands with Hareth al Dari - head of the Association of Muslim scholars - to unite Iraqis against the US occupation.

The procession of the tribe to Ashura was led by the head of the tribe, Saad Nayef Al Hatimi and his wife, who, because they were old and could not walk, came in a white car.

Iraqi police - who had warned before that no cars are allowed in Najaf during Ashura - immediately shot at the car and killed the head of the tribe, his wife and the driver - Jaber Rida al Hatimi. The outraged convoy attacked the checkpoint of the Badr Brigade without firing at it at all - though we had guns to protect ourselves for the two night walk to Najaf. The police started to shoot at us again and 20 of us died. The Kazal tribe came to rescue us since we have close ties with them and we back each other in peace and war. After ten minutes of exchanging fire, the checkpoint called the police station in Najaf, claimed that they had been attacked with heavy weapons by Al Qaeda from all sides, and called the American troops for back up.

After fifteen minutes, Iraqi police with American troops besieged us. And US helicopters started to shell us with leaflets saying give in or be killed...The Badr Brigade knew we were not Al Qaeda but Shiites and fabricated the story of the "Soldiers of Heaven." As a result of the US shelling and the attacks by Iraqi police and US troops, 120 of the Hatimi tribe and 30 from the Kazal tribe were killed. We are not soldiers neither of the sky nor of the earth.

The Al Iraq piece continues:

The Islam Memo spoke to one of the notables of the Kazal tribe - Khalaf abd el Hussein al Kazali - who said, "The government, backed with US troops, killed 120 of the Hatimi tribe and 33 of the Kazal tribe. They said at the start that the murdered were Zarqawi followers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Afghanistan, and then they claimed that they were Soldiers of Heaven, who follow a man who claims he is the heir of the Mahdi on earth. I do not really know where they got these lies, and how they fabricated them."

A convoy of thirteen journalists was based at a hotel in Najaf. Among them was the American journalist, Hoffman Smith, and the Iraqi journalist, Aws al Khafaji, who said, "We had an agreement with the American troops to head to the field where the fighting was taking place, but then we were locked in the hotel by the Iraqi forces who forbade any journalist to head to the place."

The truth, however, came from Al Diwaniyyah, where at three o'clock on Monday, 54 bodies of Hatimi tribe arrived. These are the names of some of those who were murdered and buried in Al Diwaniyyah as reported by our Al iraq news correspondent.

1. Hussein Sarheed Al Hatimi, a barber in Shafiiyyah,
2. Adnan Faraj Karim Al Hatimi, he was killed with his son, Hatem, and he is a taxi driver,
3. Firas Muheeb Abd el Falak Al Hatimi, a student in the business school in Diwaniyya,
4. Mansour Hasan Atroush Al Hatimi, a shop owner in Mailha souk,
5. Karim Abed el Mohsen Al Hatimi,
6. Ali Hussein Al Hatimi, a student in sixth grade,
7. Mouemen Muhammad Al Hatimi,
8. Yaser Jaafar Nida Al Hatimi,
9. Ibrahim Abdallah Al Hatimi,
10. Arkan Abdallah Al Hatimi,
11. Bachir Abdallah Al Hatimi,
12. Abdallah Hussein Al Hatimi,
13. Salam Hussein Abed El Karim Al Hatimi,
14. Amin Ali Al Hatimi,
15. Salam Hussein Abd El Karim AL Hatimi,
16. Saed Nayef Al Hatimi,
17. Halimah Kawaf Manaty Al Hatimi,
18. Waheeb Hussein Abd El Rida Al Hatimi.

The Hatimi as well as Kazal notables are negotiating with the Najaf mayor in order to get the seventy bodies which are in the Najaf hospital. a doctor told The Islam Memo. The doctor said that the Hatimi and Kazal notables are threatening that if they do not get the bodies in twenty-four hours, things will get out of control.

For another account, don't miss Iraqi blogger Zeyad's take.

It is difficult to know exactly what happened in Najaf. Unfortunately, followers of Iraq news are often forced to work as detectives and search western media and Iraqi media alike for clues. The above account cannot be confirmed yet, but it deserves to be shared. eIraq will follow this story closely

Eight Black Panther Leaders Arrested for 36 Year old "Offense"

As-salaam alaikom/Greetings/Hotep!

Yesterday, at the protest against the Iraq War, a young Muslim-activist brutha was telling me about the recapture of eight members of the BPP, and their treatment during the their earlier prosecutions in the 60s/70s. Abu Ghraib, all over again. COINTELPRO is supposedly defunct and discredited. (For those of you who live in the U.S., and are unfamiliar with COINTELPRO, please, please educate yourself on it. The U.S. fascination with torture did not begin at Abu Ghraib.) Yet, in the selective application of justice characteristic of the U.S., its perpetrators gone unpunished/prosecuted for the murders and torture committed under the program. Not a single leader--Black or Muslim--who claims to stand for justice and for the rights of the People, from Jesse Jackson to WD Muhammad, or even Farrakhan, has called for an inquiry into COINTELPRO. Today the system continues to victimize these innocents, as if they haven't suffered enough. Muslims and people of conscience must speak out against this injustice.

I'm not sure what's being done, if anything, to organize against this outrage. The Jericho Movement may be posting updates, as they become available:

http://thejerichomovement.com

-Nadrat Siddique

http://bombsandshields.blogspot.com

Eight veterans of the Black Panther Party (BPP,) seven of whom are accused of belonging to the Black Liberation Army (BLA,) were arrested today on charges stemming from the 1971 shooting death of San Francisco Police Sgt. John V. Young.

The August 29, 1971 attack on the Ingleside Police Station came only eight days after San Quentin prison guards gunned down BPP Field Marshal "Soledad Brother" George Jackson. The murder of Jackson provoked threats of retaliation and even sparked the Attica Prison rebellion.

Seven of the men arrested, all suspected BLA members, were charged with murder and conspiracy. They are Ray Michael Boudreaux, 64, of Altadena; Richard Brown, 65, of San Francisco; Herman Bell, 59, and Jalil Abdul Muntaqim formerly known as Anthony Bottom, 55, both currently incarcerated in New York state; Henry Watson Jones, 71, of Altadena; Francisco Torres, 58, of Queens, New York; and Harold Taylor, 58, of Panama City, Florida.

Another suspect, Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, 62, was still being sought on murder and conspiracy charges. Authorities believe he could be in France, Belize or Tanzania.

Taylor and two others faced murder charges in 1973, but the case was dismissed after a San Francisco judge that torture was used to extract confessions from the men. San Francisco Police Department Inspectors Frank McCoy and Ed Erdelatz were present for the interrogation and torture which consisted of stripping the men naked and beating them with a lead pipe, blind folding them and throwing wool blankets soaked with boiling water over their bodies, placing electric probes on their genitals and other body parts, inserting an electric cattle prod in their anus, punching and kicking, and slamming them into walls while blindfolded.

McCoy and Erdelatz came out of retirement to lead investigation when the case was reopened sometime in 2002. The decision to re-investigate the incident followed the Department of Justice's expanding prosecution of political crimes in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Bell's attorney Stuart Hanlon called the arrests a "prosecution based on vengeance and hate from the '60s." "There's a law enforcement attitude that they hate these people, the Panthers," Hanlon said. "Now they're going after old men."

Censorship in Britain

Famous Muslimah Journalist Yvonne Ridley Refused to shake Hands with Saudi Prince Turki bin Sultan

Islam Channel satellite TV station has suspended its most successful show to the delight of Zionists and enemies of Islam.

Yvonne Ridley was taken off air without warning or explanation three weeks ago in what is being regarded as a self censorship move which has baffled the Muslim community which watches the European station.

The show gave a regular platform to Palestinians and their supporters as well as highlighted the injustices against Muslims around the world.

Efforts to get a satisfactory explanation from the company have failed to date. The show's presenter Sis. Yvonne Ridley is also uncharacteristically quiet although she did tell New Trend: "This came without warning but it is a matter you should take up with my employer. However, I will take this opportunity of thanking everyone for their wonderful support and concern."

Meanwhile, there is speculation mounting that the show was pulled off the air due to pressure from Saudi Arabia after Sis. Yvonne refused to shake hands with Prince Turki bin Sultan during a visit at the beginning of this year.

This story appeared in The Independent newspaper on January 9 under the headline Radical Ridley gives saudi prince the shakes.

Since she fell off an Afghan donkey in 2001, was kidnapped by Taliban fighters and subsequently converted to Islam, Yvonne Ridley has rubbed a few brothers and sisters of the faith up the wrong way.
The warning signs were there from the outset: while imprisoned, the then-hard-drinking Sunday Express hack upset her captors by pinning her "big, floppy, black knickers" to their washing line. She described Abu Hamza as "quite sweet really". A cleric labelled her "extremist" for refusing to shake hands with Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi - the highest spiritual authority for a billion Sunnis.
Now news reaches me from Saudi Arabia that Ridley has struck again, last week offending another beacon of the faith: Prince Turki bin Sultan, the son of the Kingdom's Crown Prince.
Saudi royalty are known for their ultra-orthodox Wahhabism (think dress codes, segregation and extreme interpretation of Sharia law - chopping hands, stoning, etc). But when, at a sumptuous post-Haj buffet in Jeddah, the smiling prince extended his hand, Ridley refused to shake it on religious grounds. She says: "It's not a case of me offending the prince. He has offended me. I don't shake hands."
Prince Turki, witnessed by court officials, diplomats and Saudi socialites, dismissed her with a contemptuous wave of his hand.

Perhaps further questions should be directed to the Islam Channel by sending emails to pr@islamchannel.tv

2007-02-01 Thu 20:40:18 cst
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