Holding Fast to the Qur'an and Sunnah - Honesty is Essential
Narrated by Hudhaifa:
Allah's messenger said to us, "honesty descended from the
Heavens and settled in the roots of the hearts of men
(faithful believers), and then the Quran was revealed and
the people read the Quran, (and learned from it)."
Both Quran and Sunna strengthened their (the faithful
believers') honesty.
[Sahih al-Bukhari, 9.92.381]
PERSONAL
The Tragic Suffering of Masaud Khan and his mother.
With endless hope, Sis. Bilquis is petitioning President
Obama
by Kaukab Siddique
Sis. Bilquis [Elisabeth] Khan, a White American Muslimah,
lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland. On July 14 she was our
community's guest for iftar. As the room filled up with
Muslims enjoying the end of another long day of fasting, she
looked so worn out and exhausted after ten years of trying
to get her son out of prison.!
Masaud Khan was sentenced to life in prison. For what? Did
he kill anyone? No! Did he hurt anyone? No! Was he working
against the US government? Absolutely not!
I looked at Sis. Bilquis at prayer time. She has become so
weak that she has to pray sitting in a chair.
She is a middle class widow. She Lives in a nice house. Her
Pakistani husband was well to do. No one could have ever
thought her son would be in prison. sentenced to life.
She has spent all her funds on high quality lawyers, on
appeals for her son. She visits him regularly, further
depleting her time, money and energy. With the passage of
time, families in America break up as time goes on and on
without signs of relief and with hope getting dimmer by the
day. Sis. Bilquis has not faltered in the least. Her faith
is strong and her hope that one day he will be out of prison
is unending.
Where President Bush dealt so mercilessly with American
Muslims, Masaud was just another of his victims. The young
man had gone to Pakistan to reclaim his father's property.
As it usually happens in Pakistan, the property-related
wrangling with relatives stretched out. Masaud became
attracted to Pakistan's religious ethos. One day he visited
the Pakistani frontier with Indian occupied Kashmir. He
fired three shots, symbolically in the general direction of
India. He wanted Kashmir to be free.
This was before the 9.11 attack on America's high value
targets.
After the attacks, the American government went out on
"fishing expeditions" to capture alleged terrorists. A whole
group of young Muslim men, who played pain ball, were
arrested. Bush called it the Virginia Jihad! Among them was
Masoud.
It's very difficult to sentence a totally innocent, middle
class, person with no criminal record, to life in prison!
How was it done? The government dredged up what is known as
the Neutrality Act. That is if you attack a country friendly
to the USA, you can be punished. Even then it was severe .
He was sentenced to 33 years for each of the three shots he
fired! That's a total of 99 years,
India and USA have become friends. The occupied people of
Kashmir have been forgotten. Masaud paid the price .
Sis. Bilquis has exhausted all her appeals and her funds for
Masaud, but she has not given up. Now she is appealing to
President Obama for mercy. He has reduced the sentences of
scores of persons in prison on drug charges, some for
life.
Will the president pay attention to the petition for Sis.
Bilquis?
That's where the Muslim community comes in. Please sign the
petition to Obama for Masaud. We will give or mail or email
you the petition . Please sign it and get others to sign it
.
Check our web site for Masaud khan linked to
newtrendmag.org.
FreeMasoudKhan.net
Dear Brother/ Editor,
Asalam O Alequm, I am a regular reader of your online/ email
magazine and found it very informative and a very good
source of explaining Islam and its point of view to the
world.
This edition with Iran and its nuke deal or say Vienna Deal
article is really good and express many peoples thoughts who
with obvious reasons find Iran a US Natural Allies. For me
now US has two wives in Middle east and the IRAN is the
second and newest one so we can understand a bit unease from
the previous and the FIRST one i.e Israel.
Iran in so many ways supported Iran and west specially in US
Afgnan then IRAQ invasion still the recent killing of
Iranian General in Syria says it all.
IS which is emerging with quite a good pace despite of ALL
WEST as well Middle Eastern Tyrants opposition has to deal
with the Iranian backed shiat Militias too.
I appreciate your good work and wish you best of Luck.
Ali Hashmat SAJAWAL
Islamabad Pakistan
Jamaat al-Muslimeen Activity on July 24th. Six Page Document
Given to 76 Muslims
At the Nur masjed in eastern Maryland near White Marsh,
after Juma' exactly 76 Muslims were given a six page
document.
Most of the recipients were Pakistanis, Arabs and a few
African Americans.
It attracted the attention of young people; Ten of them
stood in a circle outside the masjid and discussed the
document.
Here is what the six pages were about:
Syria: Heavy fighting as mujahideen advance into
Lattakia, Allepo and Hasakeh & Assad moves on Palmyra. Iran
Going all out tp save Assad.
Introductory message about Masaud Khan in prison for life
& appeal to Obama to release him
In India [Ambur, near Vellore] Muslims fight police all
day after torture death of a Muslim in police custody.
&
Critique of ISB, a million dollar mosque in West
Baltimore where non-Muslim oppressor was supported in
Khutba. [Nadrat Siddique.]
Failure of leaders of million dollar mosques in Ameroca,
disconnecting US Muslims from global Ummah.[Ramadan musings
by Br. Kaukab.]
AFRICA
Kenya
President Obama Faced Stiff Resistance on Homosexuality in
Kenya even at the Official Level
Text below quoted verbatim from AOL News. July 25.
Obama did little to paper over policy differences with
Kenya's government, most notably on gay rights. He drew on
his own background as an African-American, noting the
slavery and segregation of the U.S. past and saying he is
"painfully aware of the history when people are treated
differently under the law."
"That's the path whereby freedoms begin to erode and bad
things happen," Obama said.
"When a government gets in the habit of treating people
differently, those habits can spread." Kenyatta was
unmoved, saying gay rights "is not really an issue on the
foremost mind of Kenyans. And that is a fact."
A number of Kenyan politicians and religious leaders had
warned Obama that any overtures on gay rights would not be
welcomed in Kenya, where gay sex is punishable by up to 14
years in prison.
The Kenyan gay community also complains of sometimes violent
harassment.
Somalia
US Air Force Bombed Somalia just Prior to Obama's Trip to
Kenya. According to wire services, the US air force carried
out bombing raids in various areas of Somalia to hit the
al-Shabab Islamic fighters.
A large non-Muslim force consisting of troops from Burundi,
Uganda and Kenya marched with such overwhelming force on
an-Shabab town that the fighters evacuated the place without
a fight.
Kenya was on high alert because al-Shabab has been raiding
high value soft targets in Kenya to pressure Kenyan troops
to withdraw from areas it has occupied in Somalia.
India:
Eid Gifts to Kids
On the special occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr Dawatul Quran
celebrated EID MILAN and distributed gifts as in kind of
eidee for kids at St.Rumi International School (St.Rumi
Kids) Jayanagar Bangalore.
The proceedings of a program began with Qirath, Hamd o
Qasida Burda by the students of Dawatul Qur'an.
Syed Nasir Ahmed addresses the gathering, General Secretary
- Shaik Nazim Ahmed enlightened the gathered by giving a
prosperous advice on the occasion .... He said: *Ramadan may
be leaving , but dont let it leave from within you.
*Yes, sadly its almost over and said that we can experience
Ramadan vibes through out the year by keeping up with the
good deeds and abounding the bad ones just like we did for
the whole month.
He concludes saying that - Let the end of this month be the
start of a new journey towards attaining the pleasure of
Allah the Almighty.
Insha Allah this good deed and a prosperous work will be
followed up in upcoming fruitful years.
The occasion was taken up to end by Dua.
Rebuttal
Daily Beast's Smear Job on Kaukab Siddique: July 22,
2015.
by Kaukab Siddique
For 30 years I have stood for first amendment rights,
against censorship, against tyranny, against kings and
despots, for the rights of women, for Palestine, against
occupation and aggression, against the bombing of
defenseless people. I have a track record of support for the
oppressed and the downtrodden in America, particularly
African Americans and the poor.
I have spoken up and written about the plight of political
prisoners year after year. Whatever wealth or property I
got, I gave away. So I don't recognize the "Kaukab Siddique"
the Daily Beast attacked in its July 22 issue.
I decided to talk to the Beast because I considered it
qualitatively better than bigots and fabricators in the
media. I was wrong.
Most egregious is the Beast's claim that I am against
women's rights. To be able to make this claim, Beast had to
leave out the fact that I have published books and scores of
articles in support of the rights of women. Beast went
through my publication New Trend but somehow ignored what I
wrote about women. Beast could have easily read or at least
mentioned that I wrote THE STRUGGLE OF MUSLIM WOMEN and
LIBERATION of WOMEN THRU ISLAM.
Beast was very interested in claiming that I called American
women SLUTS. That was inaccurate. I took the trouble to
point out that I am looking for reasons why the women
allegedly molested by Cosby took decades to speak out. I
asked 5 questions. Beast couldn't get away with accusing me
of a general statement against women but still put the
questions way down in the interview and put the word SLUTS
at the top. None of the other questions were discussed by the
Daily Beast.
I have been at my job for 30 years and no one has ever
claimed that I am against the rights of women or that I
don't respect them. Beast claims to have received an email
from my job claiming that I don't respect women. Of course
it is anonymous. So, this is the brave new world of
journalism that Beast can receive an anonymous email and
turn that into a story.
Every good student knows that CONTEXT is important. The
Daily Beast ignored that basic principle.
A high school student would know that quotes should not be
in the headline. Beast put bits of what I said about
"Zionist Jews" and the "homo lobby" in the headline. With
such sensationalism, one would have to read the entire
article to find out what I was talking about. I was
referring to Pamela Geller's gang and the blasphemous
attacks on the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh. Geller and Spencer
insulted and ridiculed all that is sacred for Muslims. I'll
say that again about these haters.
About the homo lobby, I was factual that this group, with
the support of the White House, has turned people of
religion into a persecuted minority.
Just as homosexuals are expressing their viewpoint, people
who follow religion should have the right to express
opposition.
Beast repeatedly refers to my job and that the institution
is paid by the State, as if that means I don't have the
right to think for myself, and then only parenthetically
admits that I do have the right to express myself on my own
time.
Beast thinks I teach journalism. I don't. I used to and she
picked that up from my old web site.
[
KaukabSiddique.net
]
I now teach Shakespeare
and Literary Criticism. Let's see what Beast can make of
that.
Then Beast latches on to war reporting in New Trend about
ISIS. I have been studying the Second World War since I was
a teenager. I know what is war time propaganda. The
mainstream media tell us that ISIS is enslaving women for
sex, in particular Yazeedi women. I told Beast that women
are rushing to JOIN ISIS, not to leave it, and many of these
are "liberated" women from western countries. If ISIS is
enslaving women, why are western women rushing to join ISIS,
even defying laws against joining it? Beast put my point
right at the end of its report without explaining what I was
saying.
The BBC has put together a report on Yazeedi women
"enslaved" by ISIS but there is no evidence in the BBC
report. It is about three Yazeedi women who were feted by
top British people in London and who told atrocity stories.
I asked Beast, don't we know that Yazeedis are among the
most westernized people in Iraq with links to the West. Many
of them have cell phones and could within a couple of
minutes have sent photos to relatives and friends in the
West depicting their arrest or mistreatment. How is it that
that there is NOT ONE such photo?
I also tried to teach Beast that Britain is embarrassed by
the flight of 'A' level British female students to ISIS and
is trying to react by making up the stories of enslavement
of women by ISIS. Beast left that out.
I also spoke about Muslim political prisoners and that some
of them [like Masaud Khan] have been sentenced to LIFE in
prison for victimless crime. I spoke about police brutality.
Again Beast left all that out.
Does The Beast have a very poorly educated audience? By the
time I read the report, there were 51 comments on it, almost
all about why do I have this teaching job, or I should be
fired forthwith, or suggestions for my deportation, or
attacks on Islam and Muslims. There was nothing there which
would indicate that the 'master race' can think!
To assure its audience that Beast was doing a good job, it
also brought in the 5 year old story that I am a Holocaust
Denier, which the likes of Blaze and the friends of Steve
Emerson had propagated. Dear Beast, I am not a scholar of
the holocaust story but specialists like Germar Rudolf,
David Irving, Prof. Butz, Bradley and many others have
studied the Jewish claims. If Beast has not read any of
them, don't try to engage with me. I have
PAKISTAN
In Pakistan, Detainees Are Vanishing in Covert Jails
Source: AP
Niaz Bibi's son disappeared into the night, whisked away by
Pakistani soldiers who accused him of being a Taliban
fighter. For 18 anguishing months, she could find no word of
his fate. Then she got a phone call.
"Come to Kohat prison," said the man on the other end. "Tell
nobody."
At the prison, in northwestern Pakistan, she was directed to
a separate, military-run internment center where her son,
Asghar Muhammad, was brought to her. They touched hands
through a metal grill, and she wept as he reassured her that
he would be home soon.
But when the phone rang again, one month later, an official
delivered crushing news. "Your son is dead," he said. "Come
collect his body."
Photo: Sis. Amina, organizer of protests, being dragged away.
New Trend supported her efforts.
Mr. Muhammad was one of dozens of detainees who have died in
military detention in Pakistan in the past year and a half,
amid accounts of torture, starvation and extrajudicial
execution from former detainees, relatives and human rights
monitors. The accusations come at a time when the country's
generals, armed with extensive new legal and judicial
powers, have escalated their war against the Pakistani
Taliban by sweeping into their strongholds and detaining
hundreds of people.
Critics warn that those gains may be coming at the cost of
human rights, potentially weakening Pakistan's fragile
democracy and, ultimately, undermining its counterterrorism
effort.
"People live in abject fear of speaking out about what the
military is doing," said Mustafa Qadri of Amnesty
International, which received reports of more than 100
deaths in military custody in 2014.
At issue is a network of 43 secretive internment centers
dotting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the tribal belt.
Little is known about the centers, formally established in
2011 and given greater powers by a tough antiterrorism law
passed last year. Most are based in existing jails and
military bases and operate far from public view. The total
number of detainees has not been made public.
Relatives of missing people have filed 2,100 cases with the
Peshawar High Court, seeking news of their fates.
In many instances, the first news comes when a body is sent
home.
Last year, for instance, a man from the Kurram tribal
district told the court that three of his six sons who were
detained in Kohat had died in custody. The man's lawyer said
he had not brought a criminal complaint against the military
out of fear that his remaining sons would meet a similar
fate.
The chief military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, did not
respond to a detailed list of questions about conditions at
the internment centers.
Classified documents leaked last year by the former National
Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden made clear that
American officials were aware of widespread human rights
violations by the Pakistani military, even as billions of
dollars in American military aid kept flowing to
Pakistan.
Pakistani military officials tortured and killed people
suspected of being militants "with the knowledge, if not
consent, of senior officers," said one American assessment
in 2011.
"The military took care to make the deaths seem to occur in
the course of counterinsurgency operations, from natural
causes, or as the result of personal vendettas," said the
document, first cited by The Washington Post.
The Obama administration, which has gradually improved its
relationship with Pakistan this year, has been muted in its
public criticism of the violations and has not invoked a
provision of American law that limits assistance to foreign
militaries guilty of human rights abuses.
Instead, the administration approved more weapons for the
Pakistani military: In April, it approved almost $1 billion
worth of helicopters and laser-guided Hellfire missiles for
use in counterterrorism operations.
State Department officials say they have warned the
Pakistani military that the accounts of rights violations
could lead to future restrictions on military
assistance.
Until recently, accusations of such abuses by Pakistani
soldiers and intelligence officers have been sharpest in
western Baluchistan Province, where the army has faced
accusations of abducting, torturing and killing people
suspected of being Baluch nationalists as part of a
decade-old effort to quell a separatist rebellion there.
The deaths at internment centers have come in conjunction
with the military's battlefield gains - in the past
year, it has seized control of much of North Waziristan
- and a general hardening of public opinion against
the Pakistani Taliban.
Tough new antiterrorism laws have given the army greater
legal powers, and the number of deaths in military custody
has declined in recent months since a military court system,
authorized by Parliament in January, became active. Fayaz
Zafar, a journalist in the Swat Valley, counted 48 bodies
being returned to that area in 2014 and five so far this
year, the latest on June 2.
Experts say the military-run courts fall far short of
international standards, and their authority is being
challenged in Pakistan's Supreme Court. But public
opposition to the courts has been muted, particularly since
a Taliban massacre that killed 150 people, most of them
children, in December. The authorities have taken harder
action against militants on other fronts, too, lifting a
moratorium on executions that has led to 178 convicts being
hanged.
The executions have drawn repeated protest from the United
Nations and the European Union but barely a whimper of
public complaint.
By several accounts, conditions at the internment camps can
be brutal. One former detainee from Swat said he had been
thrashed with barbed wire, reduced to eating soap because he
was fed so little and forced to give false testimony against
other detainees in court.
"I felt guilty, but I knew I would be beaten if I refused,"
said the man who, like others, spoke on the condition of
anonymity to avoid further trouble.
Relatives of detainees who die in custody say they have been
pressured into conducting hurried funerals, often at night,
and sometimes coerced into declining an autopsy, even if the
corpse bears signs of ill treatment. In other instances,
they say, local mullahs are forbidden from offering prayers
for the dead.
Asma Jahangir, a leading human rights lawyer, has brought a
Supreme Court case challenging the detention of 33 men. When
brought to court two years ago, two of the men said they had
been tortured. They have since died in custody. "They
supposedly had heart attacks," Ms. Jahangir said.
In Swat, several women have formed a protest group to seek
news of their missing relatives through street
demonstrations and court actions. Their leader, Jan Saba,
said in an interview that she had "knocked on every door" in
search of news of her missing husband, but that she still
had heard nothing.
Few dispute that many of the military detainees are linked
to the Taliban. Mr. Muhammad, the detainee who died in Kohat
last year, admitted to his family that he had spent eight
months in the company of Taliban fighters before being
arrested, relatives said.
One of his brothers, Abid, said that when the family asked
Mr. Muhammad what he was doing during that time, he replied,
"The less you know, the better."
Such tales have led civilian officials to turn a blind eye
to conditions at the internment centers. Jamaluddin Shah,
the top civilian official in Kohat, said in an interview
that he did not believe the military practiced torture or
conducted executions at the center. But, he added, "even if
such cases were true, why would that be an issue?"
"Have you seen them slaughtering people and distributing
those videos?" Mr. Shah asked, referring to Taliban
execution videos. "Do you think they deserve any human
rights?"
But although the army has clearly weakened the Taliban in
recent months, experts warn that reports of abuse could
ultimately hurt its counterterrorism effort, in much the
same way that harsh American tactics after 2001 led to
global condemnation and bolstered militant recruitment.
Ms. Jahangir, the lawyer, calls the network of internment
centers "Pakistan's little Guantánamo Bay."
"These laws risk turning Pakistan into a security state,"
Ms. Jahangir said. "We cannot afford torture and killings on
a mass scale, even in a time of war."
Taha Siddiqui reported from Kohat, and Declan Walsh from
London. Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington,
and an employee of The New York Times contributed from
Pakistan.
Analysis
Women's Equality in the Mosque: [Answering the latest fatwa
from England. Br. Shoaib knew this thinking way back.]
How to explain Hadith which seem to discourage Women's
Participation in the Masjid?
by Kaukab Siddique
Br. Shoaib, a well-read, thoughtful and thought provoking
Muslim, active in the Muslim community in the London,
England area has asked how one can explain hadith which seem
to create an impression that it is better for women to pray
at home and not go to the mosque. Here is my response:
The Qur'an gives the broad principle about the kind of
people who should be in charge of mosques:
"The mosques of Allah shall be visited and maintained by
such as believe in Allah and the Last Day, establish regular
prayers, and pay the zakat, and fear none (at all) except
Allah. It is they who are expected to be on true guidance."
[9:18]
Obviously 9:18 includes all believers, men and women, who
have the given qualities, as those who are entitled to visit
and maintain mosques. As Yusuf Ali's commentary points out
(p.502), "ya'amuru" (roughly translated as 'visited and
maintained') includes all mosque activities, four of which
he lists:
To build or repair.
to maintain in fitting dignity
to visit for purposes of devotion.
fill with light and life and activity.
The concept of "masjid" or mosque as taught by the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) is so broad and comprehensive that there is
no question of keeping anyone out of it who means well:
"Abu Huraira (r.a.) narrates that the messenger of Allah,
pbuh, said: The ENTIRE earth has been made for me pure and a
masjid." [Literally: place of prostration in worship.]
Hadith, Sahih Muslim, kitabus salat, Tirmizey Sunan, kitabus
siir, Ibn Maja's Sunan, kitabut taharah.
In the pre-Islamic ethos, women were given a secondary
position in places of worship. In pagan temples, as in the
Hindu religion, they were sent into places of worship to be
made into servants of men and sources of entertainment.
Pagan men often thought that women should bring enjoyment
for men in places of worship. Islam rejected pagan use of
women for entertainment. Hence the new entrants into Islam
were very sensitive to the idea of women visiting places of
worship. They did not want mosques to go the way of pagan
temples. [This fear was similar to the one related to
rituals of Hajj which the pagans had corrupted. The Qur'an,
for instance, taught Muslims that they should run up and
down the hills of Safa and Marwa and not stay away just
because they had seen the pagans going there. Islam was
reclaiming the original worship for those who had cast
paganism aside.]
Hence the Prophet (pbuh) commanded:
[From Nafi', who narrates from Abdullah ibn 'Umar (r.a.):
The Prophet, pbuh, said]: Do not stop the maid servants of
Allah from the mosques of Allah. (Hadith, Muwatta of Imam
Malik, compiled late in the first century of Islam,
published in the second.)
Then there was the element of lawlessness because Madina was
under attack and the streets of the city were not lighted.
In spite of the element of danger, the Prophet, pbuh,
insisted:
[From 'Amash, from Mujahid from Ibn 'Umar] The messenger of
Allah, pbuh, said: "Do not stop women from going to the
mosque at NIGHT." [Hadith, Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud,
Tirmizy, kitabus salat.]
Imam Abu Hanifa, who began his hadith studies in the first
century of Islam, and completed his work in the first half
of the second century compiled this specific hadith about
women's participation in the mosque prayers at the difficult
times of morning, before sun rise, and at night:
"Abu Hanifa narrates from Hammad from Ibrahim from Sha'abi
from Ibn 'Umar (r.a.): The Prophet, pbuh, permitted women to
go forth and participate in fajr and 'Isha. (Musnad of Imam
Abu Hanifa, under the heading: The benefit of participation
in Fajr and Isha prayers.]
Hazrat 'Ayesha narrates the ongoing process of women coming
for collective [jamaat] prayers in the mosque so early that
it was pitch dark and the women could not be recognized:
"From the Mother of the believers, 'Ayesha (r.a.): After the
messenger of Allah completed the fajr prayer, the women,
wrapped in their outer garments, returned home. It used to
be so dark that they could not be recognized." [Hadith,
Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Nasai, kitabus salat.]
IT APPEARS THAT NOT ONLY WOMEN PARTICIPATED WITH THE PROPHET
(pbuh) in the PRAYERS, with male sahaba, companions of the
Prophet, the women also HELD THEIR OWN COLLECTIVE PRAYERS IN
THE MASJID:
Tamima, the daughter of Salama, narrates that the Mother of
the Believers, 'Ayesha (r.a.) led the women as their imam in
Maghrib prayers. She stood in the center (of the first line)
and recited loudly. [Darqutni, with reference to the
musannaf of Abdur Razzaq, 3:141]
Hujaira, the daughter of Husaain, narrates: Umm Salama,
mother of the believers, led us in Asr prayer and stood in
the middle (of the first row). [Compiled by Ibn Saad in his
Tabaqat, vol.8, p.356. Darqutni has collected this narration
from Ibn Abi Shaiba, Abdur Razzaq and Imam Shafi'i.]
Taus narrates that the mother of the believers, 'Ayesha
Siddiqa, (r.a.) used to call the adhan and the iqama (before
leading prayers). (The musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaiba,
1:223)
Nearly 99.9% of hadith collected by the scholars of Islam
are authentic. There are a very few, however, which are
defective or out of context. There are even a couple of
fabrications which managed to survive the intense scrutiny
of scholars; hence the hadith is put second to the Qur'an,
and not equal to it, as the source of Islamic knowledge.
Related to the issue of women's equal participation in
mosques, here is a discouraging hadith which opponents of
women's rights in the mosque, use:
"From Ibn 'Umar (r.a.): The Prophet (pbuh) said: Do not stop
your women from going to the mosque and their homes are
better for them." [Hakim in his Mustadrak vol.1, p.209.]
It is also related in Abu Daw'ud's Sunan under the heading:
"Collective prayer and its blessings."
As we noticed above, there are hadith with excellent chains
of narration from Ibn 'Umar (r.a.) accepted by the imams of
Hadith, Bukhari and Muslim, in which the Prophet (pbuh)
commands: Do not stop women from going to the mosque. So why
the contradiction in this hadith attributed to Ibn 'Umar
(r.a.) himself?
My understanding is that this hadith is narrating two pieces
of narration and has left out what went on between them. It
is narrated that when 'Ibn 'Umar (r.a.) narrated the
Prophet's (pbuh) command not to stop women, Ibn 'Umar's son
objected and said their homes are better for them and that
people will use the hadith permitting women to go "to weave
the webs of deception." His son insisted that he would stop
his wife. At this 'Ibn 'Umar was extremely upset. He said to
his son: "I am telling you what the Prophet said and you are
saying you will stop your wife!" (Musnad of Abu Hanifa)
Other narratives say that 'Ibn 'Umar cursed his son for
opposing the Prophet's command. Some even say that he
thereafter refused to talk to his son.(Musnad of Ahmed)
My understanding is that the words "their homes are better
for them" are a fragment from the bitter words between
father and son and have been inserted along with the
Prophet's command into the collections of Hakim and Abu
Dawud. [Note that Ibn 'Umar's son was not a sahabi and his
opinion does not count as a religious text.]
Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim left the fragment "their homes
are better for them" out of their collections which are
universally accepted as the most authentic of Hadith
collections.
Opponents of women in the mosques also bring a narration
which says:
"Abdul Hamid bin al-Mundhir Ansari narrated from his
grandmother or his mother's aunt, not clear which, Umm
Humaid, as follows: The Prophet, pbuh, said, your prayer in
your home, is better than the one you pray with me" (in
masjid nabawi): (Ahmed in his Musnad, vol.6, p.371)
This has a number of variations, one of which appears in Ibn
Khuzaima's collection to the effect that "it is better for a
woman to pray in the inner little room of her house than to
pray in the main room of the house, better to pray in the
local mosque than in the main mosque ..." (Attributed to
hazrat 'Ayesha in Baihaqi's Sunan.)
Abdul Hamid al-Mundhir's narration is not acceptable because
the scholars of Hadith say that he is MAJHUL. No one knows
who he was. The narrations which support women's rights have
well known, in fact famous, narrators at every level of
narration.
The narration attributed to hazrat 'Ayesha (r.a.), if taken
at face value, contradicts the numerous narrations which
assert that women used to pray in the mosque in the time of
the Prophet (pbuh) and in the caliphate of Abu Bakr, 'Umar,
Usman and Ali (Allah be pleased with them). In fact 'Umar
and Ali (Allah be pleased with them), leaders, along with
'Ayesha (r.a) of Islamic thought, took extra efforts to
appoint imams to lead women in prayers in the main masjid,
especially when the crowds were big in Ramadan and the main
imam could not be heard by the women.
'Ayesha the exalted (r.a.) not only prayed in the masjid BUT
LED PRAYERS in masjide nabawi.
I have been trying to trace the cause behind this narration
from 'Ayesha (r.a.) given by Baihaqi. It appears that there
was a woman who was so poverty stricken that she did not
have enough clothes to cover herself to travel from her home
on the outskirts of Madina to the mosque of the Prophet
(pbuh). At the same time she was too self-respecting to
accept charity. The Prophet (pbuh) understood her dilemma
and her modesty. He gave her a blessing that if she prayed
in the innermost closet room of her home, she would get the
same rewards as if she was praying in the mosque of the
Prophet (pbuh). [Allahu Akbar wa lillahil hamd.] This it was
not an effort by the Prophet (pbuh) to curtail the
participation of women in the mosques, which would have
contradicted his entire mission, but to give special
blessings to a woman's vibrant faith and sincerity.
It would be extremely CONTRADICTORY for all those women to
be going to the masjid at FAJR and 'ISHA (as quoted in sahih
hadith above) if they could have just stayed at home and
gotten more rewards for praying at home. I don't think the
opponents of women's rights have a case here.
Finally there are some narrations which claim that 'Umar
(r.a.) did not like his wife to go to the masjid. [Perhaps
he remembered how women were used as sources of corruption
in the pagan forms of worship even in the most sacred of
places, the Ka'aba.] However, remembering the command of the
Prophet (pbuh) he never actually stopped his wife. In fact
the relevant narration is very instructive about the tension
created by the emergence of the new revolutionary Islamic
community coming out of a background of jahiliyya and
exploitation of women:
"Mu'ammar narrates from Zuhri that 'Atika, the daughter of
Zaid ibn'Umru bin Nufail, was marrried to 'Umar ibn
al-Khattab (r.a.). She used to pray regularly in the masjid.
'Umar used to say to her: By Allah! You know that I don't
like this. She would reply: I will not stop until you
actually forbid me. 'Umar would say:, No, I will not forbid
you. The day 'Umar (r.a.) was assassinated, 'Atika was in
the mosque." (Abdur Razzaq's collection, vol.3:148)
Ibn Hazm has a superb comment on this situation. He says,
'Umar (r.a.) could have said that 'Atika you are doing
something inferior (praying in the masjid) as opposed to
praying at home which according to the narration we
discussed above is superior. Also, I, as husband, disapprove
of it. How could a sahabia ('Atika, r.a.) continue to act in
a way which was inferior in worship and aroused the
displeasure of her husband, and a husband who was a great
Muslim, a great teacher of Islam and the greatest Khalifa
the Muslims have ever had. Obviously both 'Umar (r.a.) and
'Atika (r.a.) knew that 'Umar was simply expressing his gut
feeling and not an Islamic edict. She was torn by the
assassination of 'Umar (r.a.); she loved him beyond herself.
All the women of Madina respected him as their older
brother. Their mourning knew no bounds when he was
assassinated. He is the one who got down from the mimbar in
humility when a woman of Madina objected to a point he had
made in his khutba in MASJIDE NABAWI. [I have referenced
this incident elsewhere in my writings.]
In 'Umar's armies there were thousands of Islamic women,
both married and unmarried, who went forth to topple the
empires of Rome and Persia. I have documented this fact in a
critique I wrote of Fatima Mernissi who was ignorant of
basic facts about 'Umar (r.a.) and made some false
statements about this great servant of Allah, great leader
and mujtahid.
War News
Syria
Battles and Bombing Across the Country. Mujahideen Advancing
on Several Fronts.
July 20-25. Al-Zabadani in the Qalamoun mountains is under
severe bombardment by Hizbullah and Assad air force. UN has
shown concern that heavy civilian losses are being inflicted
by the attacking forces. A core group of al-Nusra mujahideen
and Ahrar al-Sham are defending the center of the town with
amazing tenacity.
In the suburbs of Damascus, mujahideen are engaging the
Alawites to take the pressure off Zabadani. Alawite jets are
bombing the suburbs.
In the center, Islamic State fighters are advancing on Homs
and inflicting casualties on the regime forces. Clashes are
also reported near Hama.
In the north, the mujahideen are continuing their slow
advance into Lattakia, the Alawite heartland, and have hit
Assad's hometown.
Fighting in Aleppo continues and continuous Alawite air
raids have stopped the advance. Assad's advance to retake
Palmyra has failed.
In the north east, in Hasakeh, Islamic State is now battling
the combined forces of Communist Kurds, YPG, and the
Alawites. US air attacks are hitting the Islamic State
fighters.
Iranian and Hizbullah forces are increasingly taking over
defense of Assad's strongholds in Damascus and
elsewhere.
Of special worry for them is the battle for Deraa in the
south which, if it falls to the Islamics, would open the
door to Damascus
Iraq
After two weeks of Fighting: Counterattack on Fallujah and
Ramadi Fails. Heavy Shi'ite Losses.
Finally US and Baghdad sources admitted that the "offensive"
to take Fallujah and to re-take Ramadi has failed. Baghdad,
which seldom admits losses, has admitted that 77 of its
Shi'ite militia and Baghdad troops have been killed. There
were probably huge losses. The Islamic State uses trucks
filled with explosives to counter movement by US-supported
tanks.
The US air force is bombing Islamic State forces on daily
basis causing steady casualties among the mujahideen.
In response, Islamic human bombers are hitting Shi'ite soft
targets in Baghdad, causing daily death and destruction.
US is said to be trying to spot and kill Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Caliphate.
A Sudanese origin British doctor supporting the Islamic
State has been killed either in an air strike by the US or
in combat [its not clear].
Turkey
Obama's Call to Erdogan Leads to Turkish Attacks on the
Islamic State [as well as on Iraqi Kurds]
The change in Turkish attitude to the Islamic State [IS]
came on July 20 when a human bomber hit a gathering of
Communist/Socialist activists in Suruc, just across the
Syrian border from Kobane. The activists had come to
organize the rebuilding of Kobane.
Kobane is the Syrian-Turkish border town where the US air
force killed the most Islamic people till now. The Syrian
Observatory says that 1075 Islamics were killed in three
months of US bombing. Imams, teachers and medics serving IS
were among those killed. The Communist YPG rode into Kobani
under a wave of US air force bombing. In the actual fighting
more than 800 Communist Kurds and 300 mujahideen were
killed.
The IS withdrew from Kobane but has carried out some
audacious raids on the occupying Kurds.
The July 20 human bomber who struck the Communist activists
was a Turkish Kurd, probably sympathetic to IS. It is said
32 Communists were killed and over 100 wounded.
After Obama's call to Erdogan, the Turkish air force bombed
Islamic State positions killing 11 Muslims. There has also
been an exchange of fire with the fighters.
In Turkey, there have been clashes between IS and Communist
sympathizers which led to the arrests of 600 people by
Turkish police, about equal numbers of Islamics and
Communists.
The Kurds also killed two Turkish policemen whom they
claimed facilitated the Suruc attack. This led to Turkish
air raids on PKK Kurds in Iraq
Nigeria
Nigerian Leader Visits Obama: Seeks Help Against Boko Haram.
New Attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad
July 18-25: Associated Press and Reuters report that newly
elected Nigerian leader Buhari, who had pledged to quash
Boko Haram, visited President Obama and sought help against
the Islamic movement known as Boko Haram. Obama and Buhari
discussed a join strategy. Looks like Boko Haram are too
strong for Nigeria to fight alone.
Meanwhile Nigeria admitted that Boko Haram still holds FIVE
municipalities in northern Nigeria along with its stronghold
in the vast Sambisi forest.
New Boko Haram attacks were reported from Yobe province
although the fighters retreated from Maiduguri itself.
Attacks are also reported against the forces of Cameroon and
Chad with heavy casualties on both sides.
It's very difficult to verify news about Boko Haram because
the Nigerian military issues atrocity stories but refuses to
let journalists enter the war zone to authenticate the
stories.
War News Snippets:
Afghanistan
July 26: After three days of fighting, a police garrison of
the Kabul regime in Badakhshan province surrendered to the
Taliban. These are 100 men and their commander , ammunition,
weapons and supplies. Reinforcements could not reach them
owing to floods.
A US drone strike killed three Taliban activists in
Nangarhar province.
Pakistan
July 26. In Islamabad, an employee of the US embassy
belonging to the Ismaili sect was shot dead. The gunmen
escaped.
Turkey
Kurdish opponents of ISIS have released a secret video of a
Turkish ISIS leader Abu Hanzala urging president Erdogan to
hit the secularist Kurdish movement owing to its support for
homosexuality which violates Islam.
Iraq
An armored column of Baghdad troops reached Anbar University
on the outskirts of Ramadi. Fighting continues.
Our America
Another break through by our genuine Christian friend Chuck Carlson.
Here's the latest from We Hold These Truths: Gatekeepers
Inside The Israel/Palestine Peace and Justice Movement.
In the US, one of the most effective advocates for peace and
justice in Palestine is Alison Weir of If Americans Knew
(IAK). We Hold These Truths founder, Chuck Carlson, and
members discuss the recent character assassination attacks
on Alison Weir, to discredit her and her organization, by
the leaders of the pro-Palestinian group, Jewish Voice for
Peace, for an alleged offense from five years ago.
Also, a follow-up inquisition by the US Campaign to End the
Israeli Occupation was sent to Alison Weir. Chuck Carlson
discusses the use of gatekeepers from his personal
experiences that included his removal from the program at a
pro-Palestinian, national student group meeting at Duke
University in 2004, where he was to speak on Christian
Zionism. He was prevented from speaking by actions of the
ADL.
References mentioned in podcast: IAK-JVP, IAK-US Campaign,
IAK open letter to JVP & USCSupport petition for Alison
Weir, Gilad Atzmon blogs:"The Jewish Solidarity Spin," "JVP,
Alison Weir & the Hatred of the White," and "How the Israeli
Government Subverted the Solidarity Movement."
Native Americans challenge Corporate & government greed.
by Sis. Karin Friedemann
On July 21, 2015 a convoy from out west calling themselves
the Apache Stronghold traveled first to New York City and
then to DC to protest the giveaway of their sacred lands -
National Forest land - for copper mines. It is very
important to understand the historical importance of this
event. The American Indian Movement took hold among student
groups in the 1970s but it took until now for the message to
go forward, regarding indigenous rights and protection of
the environment.
Photographer Kimora Merritt Brass took an iconic photo of a
native woman wielding a traditional bow and arrow in Times
Square, standing up for the sacred Oak Flats.
Members of the Apache Stronghold marched from Lafayette
Square on Tuesday morning to the West Lawn of the US Capitol
to mark the end of a spiritual journey across the country to
protest a bill snuck in as a rider in the National Defense
Authorization Act by Senator John McCain, and Arizona's
junior Senator Jeff Flake, which was approved by Congress in
the closing hours of its last session. That rider traded
away Apache sacred land to allow a massive copper mine.
The caravan left Arizona in early July, traveling some 2,000
miles as part of a growing movement to save Oak Flat, where
native people have held religious and coming-of-age
ceremonies for generations. The copper mine would leave a
huge crater - 1.8 mile wide and wipe out streams,
springs and wildlife habitat. The caravan was in New York
City's Times Square on Friday and arrived in Washington this
Monday evening. The Apache Stronghold caravan arrived at the
U.S. Capitol to conclude their spiritual journey on July 21,
2015.
Tuesday's event marks the final destination of the convoy's
journey from Mt. Graham to Oak Flat in the Tonto National
Forest in Arizona to Washington, DC. Apache Stronghold
stopped at Native American reservations along the journey
gathering prayers and strength, arrows and eagle feathers,
building awareness of the Oak Flat issue as well as
recognizing that many Tribes have the same or similar issues
with the protection of their sacred sites. More than 480
Tribes and many environmental organizations, outdoor
recreation enthusiasts, animal rights groups and religious
congregations support saving Oak Flat. The group hoping to
Save Oak Flat is supporting a bill introduced by Congressman
Raul Grijalva to repeal the awful bill passed in
December.
On July 22, Wednesday, a group of women including
grandmothers went to the capitol building to talk to Arizona
Congressman Paul Gosar, who has "a record of intolerance and
saying vicious things against Native Americans," about
statements he made in a letter.
The group of women journeyed to Washington, DC to voice
their displeasure on the add-on legislation tugged into the
$585 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 that
gives land at Apache Leap and Oak Flat in southeastern
Arizona to Rio Tinto, foreign mining company, to mine. Part
of a larger group called Apache Stronghold, the women
earlier rallied on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol to call
for the reversal the add-on legislation.
Rather than speak with Mrs. Cassadore and the other ladies
and Apache Stronghold members with her, Rep. Gosar responded
by hiding behind a locked door and calling the Capitol
police, threatening to have Mrs. Cassadore and her friends
immediately arrested.
Apache Stronghold spokesperson Wendsler Nosie, Sr. told the
press, "There is no excuse for his mistreatment of the
Apache grandmothers and young ladies who came to his office.
Cowering behind a locked door, refusing to come out, and
then calling a squad of policemen to sweep those gentle
ladies away is just terrible. Rep. Gosar should apologize
for that, as well as for his strange and insulting 'Dear
Colleague' letter."
