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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Rabi' al-Thani 12, 1433/ March 5, 2012 # 11

We have two new contributors: Dr. Omar Afzal from Cornell University [on the search for faith], and Kyle Goggan a student from Lincoln University [on Mass Culture]. Please scroll down.

India's Muslims are Mourning on the 10th anniversary of the massacre in Gujarat. To put salt on their wounds, the notorious Pakistani anti-struggle maulvi Tahir al-Qadri went to India to support the Hindus. New Trend is well known among Indian Muslims and we have received a spate of angry letters against Tahir al-Qadri. We publish an excerpt from one of them. Please scroll to the end.
We thank Abdul Ghani Desai for the extensive information he has sent on the tragedy of Indian Muslims, especially regarding the Gujarat massacre.

A poem of sorrow and hope. A wake up call!

Top African American and Islamic leader Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin in a US prison has been abandoned to his enemies by those who were his friends. Imam Badi Ali has written a stirring tribute to the Imam in the form of a poem. Please scroll down. Distribute it far and wide. Our call: FREE THE IMAM.
For more information, contact Imam Khalil Abdur Rahman and Sis. Karima al-Amin.

Occupy AIPAC: Jamaat al-Muslimeen was there
Hundreds Protest at Biggest Jewish Zionist Meeting in Washington DC
Condemn Israeli Plan to Attack Iran.

March 5: Gone are the days when Americans were afraid of Zionist power and were scared of protesting AIPAC, the Israeli clique which even dictates to Obama. This time there was no fear. Young Palestinians wearing kaffiyehs [sign of Palestinian resistance] engaged people coming out of the AIPAC convention and called on them to stop Israeli crimes.
Muslim women in hijab and carrying Palestinian flags were demonstrating against Israel.
The most active were Jews themselves who have decided they will no longer accept Israeli aggression. Leading them was the CODE PINK group [organizer Medea Benjamin], who were mimicking Israeli checkpoints in Palestine which create extreme suffering. Pink parasols spelling NO MORE DOLLARS FOR ISRAEL were lined up.
An orthodox Jewish group Naturei Kartei was there opposing the "philosophy" used to justify Israel.
Among the main speakers were Heber Brown, an African American church leader [a gentle but firm critic of Israeli actions] and Max Obuszewski, well known for his non-violent activism and his support for the Syrian people.

There were vociferous protests against Israeli plans to attack Iran.

[At one point President Obama had to drive through the protestors and saw what people think of Israel.]

- Nadrat Siddique [by phone]

New Trend ahead of the curve
Quick analysis by Kaukab Siddique
Analysis of US-Israeli Policy on Syria: Weaken Assad but let him kill the Muslims!

March 4: Bashar Assad has done to the city of Homs what his father Hafez Assad did to Hama: Syriani tanks and artillery have levelled entire blocks of civilian buildings. The kill rate has been about 100 people a day for a whole weak, including women and children. The poorly armed military defectors fought for more than three weeks but could not stop the Syrian army.

The situation in Syria is horrific. People are in a state of shock as they learn that Assad is using helicopters to machine gun people in the northern Idlib area where many have fled.

In this situation, America is following a strategy which New Trend had forecast. Hillary Clinton has made it clear that there is no question of US intervention in Syria because that would be like helping "Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida and Hamas" and thus negating US policy of discreet war on Islam.
In a detailed presentation to Congress on March 1, the US ambassador to Syria and Obama's Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Feltman [Hungarian Jew] expressed sympathy in detail for the Syrian people but made it clear that there would be no supply of weaponry, light or heavy, to the Syrian resistance, nor would there be any economic help.
In addition, what the US is looking for is a "negotiated settlement" which the Arab regimes have proposed.
The upshot is that the US is willing to let Assad stay in powrer, but it will be a weakened Assad who will be in no position to oppose western demands and, in the bargain, he will have crushed the Islamic opposition.
[At this time, Israel could have easily moved in and occupied key positions in Syria. It has done nothing as it watches the regime slaughter the people.]

What are the Muslims doing? Qatar has armed a unit of mujahideen, but with small weapons which have no chance against Syria's late model Russian tanks and air force. The Saudis are offering weapons but very light ones, good for domestic propaganda but ineffective. Turkey and Jordan are taking in Syrian refugees, but again nothing which would change the situation. Al-Qaida has struck twice in Damascus and once in Aleppo, causing heavy losses among Assad's forces in his strongholds but the attacks were not big enough to bring him down.

Big Propaganda Opportunity Against Iran: The corrupt Arab rulers, from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar to the Emirates, undemocratic, unIslamic and silent on Islamic issues, are making hay out of Assad's atrocities against his people. They are blaming Iran for supporting Assad and giving it a sectarian
twist. After all, Assad's support base is the Alawite sect, Shi'ites, being helped by Iran, which is also Shi'ite. The fact is that Alawites are not Shi'ites but a heterodox sect outside Shi'ism. Iran's interest is not in the westernized playboy that is Assad but in the corridor he provides Iran to Hizbullah in Lebanon.
The Saudis don't realize that Syrian Christians also support Assad. When he fails or falls, there could be a massacre of Alawites and Syrian Christians. The Saudis must take the blame for incitement.
The evil of Syria is deep. Only a quick removal of Assad will help. Hillary does not want that.

Outreach #1:
Reaching out to 150 Muslims in Western Baltimore: On Qur'an burning

March 2: Masjid Rahma is a well-attended mosque with a full time school, a beautiful dome and facilities for children to play after prayers. Food is also sold at low prices. The parking lot full of flashy cars as nearly 400 people come for Juma'.

Jamaat al-Muslimeen gave literature to 150 people, mostly from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh with a few from Arab countries and a very few African Americans.

The literature, 4 pages, included a report on the Qur'ans burned by US troops in Afghanistan, with overview of demonstrations against US troops, plus US Muslims' condemnation of the Qur'an burning, an item on "disappeared" people in Pakistan and Jamaate Islami leader's support for their families, an announcement of Jamaat al-Muslimeen's Shoora coming on April 7, Spotlights by Imam Badi urging Muslims to think, and an article by Sis. Ashira on an awesome mosque in Ethiopia which she visited.
The final item was about Imam Khomeini's fatwa on Rushdie.

Outreach #2
Reaching out to 50 Muslims in Newark, Delaware:
Photos in Color of Rally Against US Courts, Youth showing Burnt Qur'an in Bagram.

Jamaat al-Muslimeen used photos in color in literature given out to 50 people outside the Islamic Center in Newark. Most of the 50 were Pakistanis, with a few Afghans, Arabs and African Americans.

One color photo is Yusuf Ali's translation of the Qur'an. The second is that of Afghan demonstrators one of whom is holding a half burned Qur'an.
The third photo, very unusual is that of African American demonstrators in Baltimore, in front of the courts, challenging the legitimacy of the American court system. Very effective placards. {Prison system in America has become a processing machine for the oppression of the poor and the downtrodden.
Sis. Ashira's article on a beautiful mosque in Ethiopia was included along with a comment on Imam Khomeini's fatwa.

Mass Culture
"... male-dominated, pornographic, and consumer-driven society"
by Kyle Goggan [Lincoln University student]
Today, mass culture affects almost every American citizen. With a television in almost every household, images of sexuality, celebrity, and popular culture are peddled by mass media and affirm messages sent by companies attempting to sell products, brands, ideas, and even identities, to old and young alike. These, over time and with acceptance by the majority, become mass culture and have resounding affects on those whom they target including: a system of male control, glorification of pornographic content, and hyper-consumption of unneeded material products.
A fundamental question about mass culture is: why are men in control? Often we recognize the distinct roles occupied by men and women respectively, and how these roles seem to represent power inequalities, but we do not recognize how this happens. One important factor is the subconscious propaganda included in television advertising. An example of this is any one of the many models who are willing to be photographed partially or fully nude as a means to selling a product. This scenario provides for an environment in which women are made into a commodity (something to be purchased, sold or consumed) rather than something to be respected as human and of social value.
Another prime example of this is the Coca-Cola Bottle. Distinctively shaped similar to a woman's curvaceous physique, the bottle suggests the sexual desirability of women, and that that in some way relates to the desirability of product contained within it.
This example too, serves to explain the usage of pornographic content. Since sex is one of the most intriguing matters in modern American society, it is used to captivate the imaginations and passions of the subjects of mass culture and communications, in an effort to sell products, shape ideas of normality, and even lower thresholds for objectionable content.
Recognizing these realities, we must at once ask ourselves: why is this done? Often a sufficient motivation is financial gain. Corporations stand to make millions from selling a variety of material products. Mass culture, peddled by mass media makes that possible. If people are able to be mentally captivated, they are able to be coerced into doing almost anything. What is perhaps most unfortunate about this, is that even educated minds are affected by the forces of mass culture. When companies are able to create products which embody a life style or image which people accept as normal or desirable, they are able to convince people to consume their products, even if they are not healthy, beneficial, or even genuinely enjoyable.
What these allusions demonstrate are the profound impacts which mass culture has on the many people who interact with it. We realize that mass culture has great influence over the decision making of individuals, and can cause them to act very differently than they would otherwise. Hence, mass culture is an integral fabric in the society in which we live, and the control of it basically means the control of a broad swath of to societal actions which we commit. Corrosive messages and coercive measure of it force its subjects to perpetuate the male-dominated, pornographic, and consumer-driven society in which we live.


See what Mr. Santorum was looking for:
The Opportunity that the Muslims Missed
by Dr. Omar Afzal [Ithaca, New York]

When in late 1960s the Muslims arrived in a larger number on American shores, they had the best opportunity to show that Islam is the alternative to whatever "faiths" were in vogue. Santorum's faith journey as told below is typical narrative of American intelligentia's search for a living faith.

Rick Santorum was, in his own words, a "nominal Catholic" when he met Karen Garver, a neonatal nurse and law student, in 1988. As they made plans to marry and he decided to enter politics, she sent him to her father for advice.

Dr. Kenneth L. Garver was a Pittsburgh pediatrician who specialized in medical genetics. The patriarch of a large Roman Catholic family, he had treated patients considering abortion but was strongly opposed to it.

"We sat across the table and the whole evening we talked about this issue," Mr. Santorum told an anti-abortion group last October. He left, he said, convinced "that there was only one place to be, from the standpoint of science as well as from the standpoint of faith."

For Mr. Santorum, a Republican candidate for president, that conversation was an early step on a path into a deeply conservative Catholic culture that has profoundly influenced his life as a husband, father and politician. Over the past two decades, he has undergone a religious transformation that is now spurring a national conversation about faith in the public sphere.

But the Muslims failed to explicate the real Islam of
a)   Belief in ONE God (Iman); and
b)   Living an upright life, answerable to God ('Amilus Salihaat).
Instead the Muslims created their identity around a few rituals.

Even today our focus is "Ritual" or for some a political Islam.

Can we focus on Islam as providing a practical solution for a serene life on earth?

Wednesday, February 29,2012
Muslim parents and Guilford schools join forces against bullying
By Jordan Green Share [Courtesy Yes Weekly, Greensboro, NC]

Karen Mujali sat at a table apart from her three children, who crowded into a booth at Nazareth Bread Co. Bakery and Restaurant with the children of the restaurant and bakery's owner on a recent Friday night. One of the older girls had a laptop open and others worked on homework.

The social lives of Mujali and other members of Islamic Center of the Triad, a Greensboro mosque, revolve around their children. The mosque's youth committee came first, and then the parents established the Muslim Parent-Teacher Association about two years ago to advocate for their children and work with Guilford County Schools to prevent bullying."I apologize for being late," said Ahmad Abdelmajid, an engineer. "That's what happens when you have five boys."
Six-year-old Jihad, Mujali's youngest child, tugged at Abdelmajid's arms, asking after his sons. Abdelmajid explained that his boys had chores to complete before they could go to the overnight lock-in. Jihad was eager to get to the lock-in also.The Muslim parents sprung into action when some of their children reported to them that another Muslim child was targeted by bullies who joked that when he came into the room they heard a ticking noise, basically inferring that he was a terrorist.

Mujali said the children from Islamic Center of the Triad feel they need to advocate for others who might not report bullying out of fear because their parents don't speak good English or their mothers wear head coverings."Since part of our policy and goal is to not be tolerant of bullying of any kind in any of our schools, when we found out that the Muslim community said they had students who were being bullied we immediately responded," said Monica Walker, the district's diversity officer. "One of our first revelations was that the students had not been reporting the bullying."The Muslim PTA met with Walker and other members of the Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination Committee, along with principals from several schools at Mendenhall Middle School in Greensboro.

Mendenhall Middle was chosen because it was one of the schools the parents had identified as having a problem with bullying."One of the wonderful things in terms of helping the students build confidence was that the students actually got to speak," said Shirley Stipe-Zindle, student services administrator for the district. "There were representatives of the schools where they said they had problems. The people from the school spoke passionately about how they wanted the children to come forward and how there was a safe person that the children could go to."Nora Shoptaw, a spokeswoman for the district, said Guilford County Schools does not keep data on students based on religious preference, but Badi Ali, the spiritual leader at Islamic Center of the Triad, said the number of Muslim students in county schools is on the rise."Educators have to start paying attention to Muslim students' needs," he said.In many instances the Muslim parents praised the school system's response to anti- Islamic behavior and bullying.

Abdelmajid said his eldest son endured his classmates at Johnson Street Global Studies K-8 school in High Point poking fun when the teacher said Muslims worship a God called Allah. The teacher immediately put a stop to the ridicule, but some of the children continued to jest behind her back.

The parents have broken the fast of Ramadan with principals at Johnson Global Studies. And the association is planning to host a Middle Eastern cultural evening to help educate and sensitive non-Muslim parents and students.Ali said Superintendent Mo Green responded positively to a letter announcing the Muslim PTA's formation and outlining a series of needs.

As a result of the parents' advocacy, the school district has coded lunch menus to indicate whether pork, which is forbidden in the Muslim diet, is in any of the food.The school have also accommodated Ali's request that Muslim students have the option of less strenuous physical education activities during the Ramadan fast and Muslim girls be allowed to wear modest clothing, including long-sleeved shirts, in the gym. And while the district administration has expressed openness to the idea, the PTA's demand that Arabic be offered as a language elective has yet to be realized."Before the holidays I send my sons with a sheet explaining that my sons will not be in school and why," Abdelmajid said. "One of my sons' teacher actually came up to me later and thanked me because now she knows what to expect with other Muslim students."

A tribute by Badi Ali

Justice for Imam Jamil

Once upon a time Jamil was imprisoned
For acts of crime not committed...
To silence faith and freedom.
They did not want the IMAM in the streets.
They wanted the IMAM Defeated.
Building Careers on secret gag proceedings.
They have been deceived!
They imprisoned their souls instead.
They will not imprison your heart or mind
so called brothers of Mute faith and resigned struggle left you without cover
your brothers continue to watch ashamed...
Those who once vowed to obey and protect,
Abandoned you at time of nee,Justifying their cowardice
with million excuses.
Jamil, don't wait for their justice.
Justice is an absent reality.
Justice to them pursuing a just cause
Was execution and torture.
Justice is nothing but a TV show.
Justice is not justified
The verdict is not on your side.
As long as the beast is pleased
Everyone has basic rights!
but for you ... justice is a might
justice is a fight!
Justice on Earth is Pending.
Here in America justice is for sale.
System of money and lies.
System of hypocrisy and greed.
They say justice, but injustice is what they mean.
Your prison may wake them up Jamil!
Remember, you are free and they are the imprisoned.
Justice will be restored
Before God and the eyes of humanity.

An Invitation to think. On Taghooti Scholars.
Spotlights from Imam Badi Ali, National Shoora Leader, Jamaat al-Muslimeen, North Carolina.
Spotlight #1:
Unmotivated people find a million reasons for being unmotivated. The main excuses of hypocrites are given in the Qur'an.
Spotlight #2:
Violence is the language of the ignorant.
Spotlight #3:
Hatred has an effect. Hatred will produce violence.
Spotlight #4:
What do expect other than violence when we have TV violence, violent games, violence in videos and magazines, violent toys, movie violence ....
Spotlight #5:
To stop violence, find alternatives to violence. Fight the GOOD WARS against poverty, hunger and hypocrisy.
Spotlight #6:
Taghooti scholars [a term in the Qur'an fot those who serve others than Allah] are constantly switching dictators. For decades they served established dictators. Now they will serve the new dictators, and then will justify the next dictators and so on.
Spotlight #7:
These taghooti scholars also justify sectarianism not only between Shi'a and Sunni but also WITHIN the Sunni sect.
Spotlight #8:
Islam wants to liberate us from worshipping humans, including scholars. Taghooti scholars want to monopolize religion. They ignore the Prophet, pbuh, and the Sahaba, r.a. Instead they constantly mention scholars.
Spotlight #9:
Let's not ignore the hypocrisy within the ranks of Muslims. Thieves are often our leaders, stealing the research work of others and putting their own names on it.
Spotlight #10:
Hypocrites and taghootis use religion to market cowardice for profit.
Spotlight #11:
Do not equate the oppressed with oppressor, the victim with the victimizer.
Spotlight #12:
Teach students to use their minds, hearts and humor, instead of muscles and unmoderated opinions.
Spotlight #13:
The challenge we face is to have empathy and to find an honest way to peace, not how to be rough, not how to take advantage of others.

Pakistan: From Sarfraz Hussain
For the People, by the People: Rallies against Price Hikes Crushing the Poor

LAHORE, Mar. 4: Countrywide protest was held on Sunday against the oppressive rise in POL, gas and prices and electricity tariff, on the appeal of the Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Syed Munawar Hasan.
Protest rallies and meetings were held in big cities including Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Khanewal and Bahawalpur.
Senior JI leaders addressing the rallies, condemned the frequent rise in the POL and gas prices and electricity charges which had crushed the general public.
They deplored that whereas the rulers were leading luxurious lives, the masses had been unable to make both ends meet.
JI Ameer, Syed Munawar Hasan, addressing a big public meeting at Khanewal, said that the so called opposition did not raise voice against the price rise that was being affected by the IMF and World Bank dictation. The foreign donors were bent upon ruining Pakistan's economy to meet their evil designs, he added.
In the Punjab capital, a rally was held outside the Lahore Press Club. The JI Lahore chief, Amirul Azeem, in his address, said that the present government had been constantly raising prices of POL, gas and electricity tariff due to which some of the poor were committing suicides.
He said the common man was unable to understand why the gas prices were being raised which was a local product.
The rally at Peshawar was addressed by the JI provincial chief, Prof. Ibrahim Khan who said that if the rulers did not control price spiral, the hands of the poor people would be on their throats.
The JI Punjab chief, Syed Waseem Akhtar led a big women's rally at Bahawalpur.

India: 10th Anniversary of Massacre/Rape of Muslims in Gujarat
Tahir-ul Qadri: Anti-Jihad man from Pakistan Sneaked into India to Support Hindus
[New Trend has received many letters condemning Tahir-ul Qadri's visit to support Hindus at a time when Muslims are mourning the massacre.This one is excerpted from a writer who calls himself "Asan Deen."]

"We would always says that Tahir ul Padri is a Fitna of Muslim Ummah, now sitting in Canada and started world wide tours to spread different Fitna to please all Kuffar-o-Mushrikeen, because he is well paid for this task and in return they allow him to build his Minhaj ul Quran Academies in their countries... Why Iradat Ullah is uselessly advocating his Pir-o-Murshad,, Tahir ul Padri, inspite of his derogatory remarks about the Massacre of Muslims in favour of the Butcher of Muslims (Modi in Gujrat)?
As per Minhajians, royalty of all the books written by Tahir Ul Qadri and Audio/Vedio Cassettes etc. is the property of Minhaj ul Quran and Moulana Sb. is getting nothing from it, than how is he living a lavish life in Canada and who is sponsering his world wide tours, and why he would keep Canadian Security Guard with them?
Don't you know his most controversial 600 pages Fatwa against terrorism (only against the Muslim Cause and in favour of Kuffar-o-Mushrikeen) he issued in London Conference, along with all his Darbari Mullah, Pir/ Mujawars, who were specially invited to attend that Conference?" [The rest is in Urdu]

Pakistanis Love the Qur'an & hold the US responsible for desecration. Mass Rallies.

For days, the people of Pakistan came out into the streets and condemned the desecration of the Qur'an in Afghanistan by US troops. The US media paid no attention and only reported on the protests within Afghanistan. One reason could be that many of these protests in Pakistan were by groups which the US has declared illegal, such as Jamat ud-Dawa, but which have wide support.
Finally on March 2, Jamaate Islami, a peaceful movement, held HUGE rallies against the Qur'an burning in every major city. Here we publish an amazing photo of the protest march in Karachi, going right to the horizon.


2012-03-06 Tue 15:36:15 cst
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