Abu Huraira said, Allah's Apostle said:
"By Him in Whose Hand my life is, I would love to fight in
Allah's Cause and then get martyred and then resurrected
(come to life) and then get martyred and then resurrected
(come to life) and then get martyred, and then resurrected
(come to life) and then get martyred and then resurrected
(come to life)." Abu Huraira used to repeat those words
three times and I testify to it with Allah's Oath.
Bukhari, Vol 9, Book 90, Number 333
[With thanks to Sis. Kristi]
Quick Thoughts: Thomas Serres on Algeria's Protests
By : Thomas Serres
Algeria has in recent weeks been gripped by a growing wave
of popular demonstrations, which are reaching a crescendo as
the closing date for nominations for the 18 April
presidential elections approaches. Central in this equation
is the prospective candidacy of President Abdelaziz
Bouteflika, incapacitated for several years and demonstrably
incapable of leading the country or its government. To learn
more about the context and prospects of the Algerian protest
movement Jadaliyya turned to Thomas Serres of the University
of California, Santa Cruz, and author of the forthcoming
L'Algérie face à la catastrophe suspendue. Gérer la crise et
blâmer le peuple sous Bouteflika (1999-2014) (Algeria and
the Suspended Disaster. Managing the Crisis and Blaming the
People under Bouteflika (1999-2014)
Ethiopia
Jamaat al-Muslimeen feeding the needy
by Sis. Ashira Naim
With much gratitude to Allah we have safely arrived and
gradually readjusted to the change of environment here in
Ethiopia.
The last visit was for 10 months and our stay away has been
a year and a half. We see much more development taking place
via the newly constructed hotel buildings, renovated
buildings for housing and businesses. And this is speaking
not to the capital city, Addis Ababa, but to a town an hour
and a half away by car, Adama (Nazareth), Ethiopia.
We have made this our hometown owing to our desire to keep
expenses lower and to live in a less crowded area.
The FEEDING THE NEEDY program in Ethiopia will begin here in
Adama this month of March, 2019 inshallah.
We want to thank all those who have contributed to this
cause and we encourage those who still have the will to make
your donation payable to
Jamaat al Muslimeen, 4624 York Road, Baltimore, Maryland
21212
and note on the bottom of your check: For Ethiopia.
We will keep you informed as we progress, inshallah. Pray
for our progress.
Prayers do work.
Editorial
BBC Lacks Authenticity in reporting on armed Islamic groups.
Month long bombing of Baghouz area by the US and
othern western air forces was reported several times by the
BBC.
It is understandable that BBC id anti-IS because the British
air force has been bombing IS both in Iraq and Syria, in
tandem with the US and other wetern air forces.
What is lacking in BBC's reporting on thde bombing and the
fighting iindicate is the honesty required in any news
system which claims to be reporting and not doing
propaganda.
BBC does not report that Islamic groups do not have
anti-aircraft weaponry. Thus IS towns and vilages are SOFT
TARGETS for the British and othern air forces. No fighting
force can survive bombing by a modern air force if it lacks
the ability to shoot back.
Secondly BBC does not report that SDF, backed by western
air forces,
outnumbers Islamic State fighters TEN to ONE. The US has
organized about 65000 SDF fighters. At various places, SDF
outnumbers IS, ten to one. No other force in modern war
history has faced such odds.
BBC does show sympathy for the Syrian people but it does so
in a way which indicates that it considers its audience
naive if not childish. BBC's latest is a lengthy report on a
Syrian man who takes care of cats in an area near
Aleppo.
Cute!
But wives and children of islamic fighters are not cute!
PAKISTAN
Oppressed, Helpless Person
hits those within his own Family.
Looks like Imran Khan has banned all the small Islamic
groups to please India and the western powers. Some of these
were on the roster sent by India:
[The titles of the groups indicate they are almost all
Sharia based.]
GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN NATIONAL COUNTER TERRORISM AUTHORITY
ISLAMABAD https://www.nacta.gov.pk
68 Organizations Proscribed by Ministry of Interior u/s
11-B-(1) r/w Schedule-I, ATA 1997
War News
Syria
ISIS Tricked SDF.
Russia renews bombing.
16 towns shelled by Assad-Iranians.
Who is Shamima Begum?
March 7 to 10.
Suddenly the SDF advance on the Baghouz farms and villages
has stopped. Large numbers of SDF prisoners are in the
Islamic State hands, being kept in tunnels where the
fighters survive US air strikes.
So SDF had to negotiate with IS and had to allow women and
children of IS families to leave.
Several thousand civilians from Baghouz [southern Euphrates]
were permitted by SDF to leave and go to the refugee camp in
Hasakeh province known as al-Hool [or al-Houl].
Conditions in al-Hool camp are severe and scores of children
have died of cold and lack of nutrition. However the bulk of
the civilians, pro-Islamic State, have survived.
Tragically, Iraqi civilians who had escaped the Shia regime
in Baghdad were identified and handed over to the Shia
regime.
Unfortunately for SDF and Assad, more than 300 IS fighters
skirted around the columns of refugees and reached eastern
Homs province, near al-Sokhna. SOHR estimates that IS
controls 4000 square miles in this Homs area.
Idlib being bombed by Russia
On March 19, Russian jets and Assad helicopters again
started bombing Idlib province. Typical Assad targets are
facilities which sustain the Muslim population. Among those
hit are two hospitals, a bakery, a blood bank and a civil
defense center.
Northern Hama province
Assad's long range Iranian artillery is shelling Muslim
towns all over northern Hama province and north western
Aleppo province causing casualties in the population.
Attempts to advance into northern Hama were thwarted by
small mujahideen groups, with casualties on both sides.
Latest Islamic counter attacks pushed Assad troops back.
Shamima Begum and IS.
Shamima Begum, 15 year old, escaped from Britain and
married a convert to Islam in IS controlled eastern Syria.
Now that IS cities have been destroyed by the US air
force,
Shamima is in a crowded refugee camp. Her baby has died
and she is living in severe conditions. Britain is refusing
to let her come back. The refusal is coming from a renegade
"Muslim" named Javid who is Britain;s Minister of the
Interior. The brits have mastered the use of subsrveient
"Muslms" who are instruments to terrify those Muslims who
support IS or other Islamic groups.
News Within the U.S.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's prostitution
charges were part of a large-scale human-trafficking and
prostitution ring in Florida.
Victims of alleged human-trafficking ring that ensnared
Robert Kraft were forced to live in massage parlors and
perform sex acts, according to police.
Kraft was charged with two counts of soliciting
prostitution. In a statement, he denied he broke the
law.
Within the ring, women were trafficked and coerced into
working as prostitutes in 10 different spas and massage
parlors, according to the Vero Beach Police Department.
The victims were forced to live in the spas for days,
sometimes months, "for the purpose of sexual servitude,"
according to the charges. Many of them came from China on
temporary work visas, believing they'd get legitimate jobs
in the US, Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey said in a
press conference.
"These girls are there all day long, into the evening. They
can't leave and they're performing sex acts," he said. "Some
of them may tell us they're OK, but they're not."
"These women were sleeping in massage parlors, on the
massage tables and had no access to transportation," Martin
County Sheriff William Snyder said in a press conference
Tuesday. "If you do the math, that is about 1,500 men a
year, with no days off."
The police investigation, which included multiple agencies,
began in August. It was triggered by "numerous complaints"
by concerned citizens, as well as online reviews, according
to a Jupiter Police Department case file reviewed by
INSIDER.
-with thanks to Br. Nazeer, Texas
Source:
https://www.businessinsider.com/robert-kraft-arrest-sex-traficking-ring-bust-women-sex-against-will-2019-2
Invitation to Think
How to understand the Qur'an: Issues of Women's Rights.
Doesn't the Qur'an 4:34 Put Men Above Women, Even Giving
them the Right to Beat Women?
Question from Adam Seedat, South Africa:
How do you reconcile your view on the wife's obediance to
verse 4:34 which deals with the light beating of the
wife?
WS Adam
[Reply by Br. Kaukab Siddique, PhD]
Some Muslims in our times have delinked the Qur'an from the
Hadith which enshrines the life of the Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh). When these misled Muslims take the Qur'an, they take
it one verse at a time and try to make the claim that in
itself each verse is ultimate in meaning. Thus when they are
faced with chapter 4 verse 34 of the Qur'an, we find Muslims
taking these postures:
GROUP A
Some say the verse makes men the "rulers" of women.
They add that women must obey their husbands (be "qanitat.")
They claim that if women display "nushuz" (rebellion)
against the husband, then the husband can carry out a three
stage withdrawal from the wife, resulting in him beating her
(lightly) for her rebellion.
The commentary of this group gives the impression that
women are the slaves of men.
GROUP B
These are the 'modernist' apologists who are reacting to the
West's attack on the Qur'an. They make weird efforts to
twist the meaning of the verse to avoid its obvious meaning.
The Pervaizi sectarian types use the dictionary. They find
that, Arabic being a versatile language, the word used for
'beating' can also mean having sex. So they grab hold of
this straw to, in their thinking, save Islam from barbarism
which Western writers accuse it of. For them 4:34 does not
imply inequality at all.
[Some writers, who are not Pervaizi but also want to have
"Qur'an alone," like Amina Wadud, have worked hard on 4:34
to make it say what it obviously does not.]
The problem with the writings of this group is that it
creates a "Qur'an" made in their own image according to
which there is no issue of application or context. For them,
there is no difference between war torn Afghanistan and an
'Islamic' conference in a Hilton Hotel.
In my book THE STRUGGLE OF MUSLIM WOMEN, I have shown the
original, Islamic way of understanding the Qur'an, which is
through the Hadith.
My viewpoint is that the Qur'an was a PROGRESSIVE
REVELATION. "Progressive" here means that it went from stage
to stage. The HADITH indicates and provides SOCIAL CONTEXT
without which the Qur'an cannot be understood. I note in my
book, for instance, that according to HADITH, 4:34 was
revealed in the early period of Madina (Sahih of Bukhari,
kitab al-Fadail). That was a time when the Muslim community
was not fully formulated and people coming into Islam,
especially women, had to be disciplined to understand that
they could no longer keep in touch with men they knew
beforehand. Sexual promiscuity was common in pre-Islamic
Arab society. Also, on marriage, men would not take proper
economic care of the wife. Hence the emphasis on this verse
on men being "maintainers and providers" [qawwamun].
I also showed that the word NUSHUZ in 4:34 is not about the
willfulness or rebellion of the wife but, as indicated by
Hadith, sexual misconduct. It's the kind of loose sexual
behavior which can undermine a marriage.
As the Qur'an was revealed progressively, Sura 24 verses
6-10, do not indicate any right to physically discipline the
wife. In fact these verses indicate that even where the
husband is alleging adultery, he cannot do anything other
than to take an oath. The Hadith makes it clear to us that
the Prophet (pbuh) forbade men to hit their wives. His
SUNNAH, which is the model for all Muslims, shows, according
to 'Ayesha (r.a.), that he never raised his hand against any
woman.
From Hadith, we know that the last verses on male-female
relationships were 9:70-71 and these state very clearly that
BELIEVING MEN AND WOMEN are EACH OTHER'S GUARDIANS and
PROTECTORS. [These verses do not say that men are guardians
and protectors of the women.] Obviously, by the time Sura
Tauba (chapter 9) was revealed, the Islamic community led by
the Prophet (pbuh) had reached its perfection, which of
course we know from Hadith.
Those who have a static view of the Qur'an tie themselves
into knots by applying the "Qur'an only" method to 4:34 (of
course in the process adding the Arabic dictionary while
leaving out the Hadith).
Africa
Nigeria
IZALA MOVEMENT IN THE NORTH:
Muslims Reconciling
By Abdulkabir Oyemomi
From the angle of a dissertation submitted by Ramzi Amera
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at University of
Bayreuth as supervised by Dr. Franz Kogelmann, Ramzi
believes that "after the last-longing conflict between Sheik
Abubakar Gummi and the Nigerian Sufi Brotherhoods which
eventually developed into clashes between Sufi and Izala
,internal issues had been increasingly weakening the
organization between Jos and Kaduna affected the image of
the movement and especially its credibility amongst Muslim
in matters of leadership. Most (if not all) Izala leaders
confess that the division of the movement has nothing to do
with Aqidah but rather orientation within the
organization".
To appreciate Amera's position, it is pertinent to discuss
the evolution of the group which was formed as Jama'at
Izalat al Bida'a Wa Iqamat as Sunna(JIBWIS), which can be
translated to 'Society of Removal of Innovation and
Re-establishment of Sunna'. JIBWIS was formed by Sheik
Ismail Idris in 1978 with intention of bringing Muslim back
to puritanical Islam as the then northern Muslim had been
greatly influenced and almost completely eroded by
syncretism of Sufi from both Tijjaniyah and Qadriyyah
movement. Discussing this surely brings Sheik Abubakar
Gummi,the then Grand Khadi of northern Nigeria,to the fore:
Sheik Idris was a student of Sheik Abubakar Gummi.
Late Gummi was a strong proponent of permissibility of
democracy in Islam; he believed Muslims needed to take
leadership position through democracy to be able to uphold
the law of Allah. He was able to penetrate and control both
Islamic and political space, especially with his closeness
to political leaders who were also seriously concerned about
the matters of Islam. He was a close ally of former Premier
of the Northern Region in the person of Alh. Sir Ahmadu
Bello.
However, some critics of Izala Movement challenged the
movement of compromising its fundamental aim of strict
adherence to the teaching of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon
him), which is believed to have tacitly or expressly ruled
democracy as Kufru system for its inconsistency with the law
of Allah.
But what evidently actually set Izala against majority of
ordinary Muslims of the north is the success its critic
scholars achieved by labeling the mode of preaching to be
characterized by rudeness and name-calling by some of her
most vocal preachers.
Izala was greatly helped by the new crop of more learned
scholars that later joined the group. Thus for sometime now
Izala has been involved in fence-mending with various groups
and individuals by trying to convince them the movement has
changed positively in that regard. Their approach to
Dharika(Tijanniyah and Qadiriyyah)has even become softer
with the two groups now intermingling and attending meetings
on different platforms.
President Muhammadu Buhari who was hitherto stunt adversary
of Izala Movement ( Buhari retired Sheik Abubakar Gummi from
his position as the consulting Grand Khadi of Northern
Nigeria when the former was a Military Head of States) has
been reconciled with and appears as the group's unspoken
patron now. But unfortunately the first son of the late
Sheik (Ahmad Gummi) remains Buhari's stunt enemy in all
fronts, especially politics.
Guidance by Sis. Yasmin.
~MUSLIMS PRAYING IN PUBLIC PLACES ~
'The only way Muslims who pray 5 times a day can avoid
delaying the act.
Muslims praying in public places
For Muslims, praying in public can be risky.
Dubbed a "social experiment," one recent viral video of a
Muslim woman praying in the streets of New York City showed
how negatively some passers-by reacted to her. In it, one
man asks the woman if Islam is linked to terrorism, while
another tries to physically stop her from praying.
Although Muslims often pray in public spaces, they tend to
find less busy areas to do so (in high school, I prayed in
the library and computer lab when classes were over, for
example). Praying in public isn't ideal but it's often the
only way Muslims—who pray five times a day—can
avoid delaying the act.
Prayer, which typically takes five to seven minutes,
involves standing, bowing, kneeling, prostrating, and
reciting verses from the Qur'an.
Most Muslims pray on a prayer rug if they're not in a
mosque.
Sana Ullah, a Muslim American born in Florida, started an
Instagram photo series in January 2015 called "Places You'll
Pray" to combat negative images of Muslims in the media. It
features photos of Muslims praying in public spaces across
America.
We talked to Ullah, 24, to find out more about why she
started the project.
How did "Places You'll Pray" start?
Many years ago ... I was going into the journalism field
with this idea that I could tell stories about anything
other than Islam and Muslims because it felt like I would be
pigeonholed into that. If someone looks at me, they will be
like, "Of course she is going to tell stories about
Muslims." I don't know why I had that mentality.
As I got older and started to take more images, and meeting
more mentors in my life, a lot of them told me, "If you
don't tell stories about Muslims, someone else will do it.
If you don't tell your truth, no one else will know it." So,
I started this project during my break from undergrad to
grad school. I kept thinking in my head that I want to do a
project that connects me with Islam and photography. I
couldn't think of anything because at the time, hijab
fashion was in, and everyone was doing that. There were many
stories about Muslim professionals, and that was also
becoming popular. So I was like: I need something completely
different.
I was with my sister [to go] shopping one day, and it was
time for prayer. So my sister was like, "Sana, let's grab a
shirt, and go into the dressing room to pray." At that
moment, I thought that was so silly ... There are so many
places where people have prayed, but [non-Muslims] who are
passing by are not familiar with what is happening. A lot of
people don't realize that [praying] is so common, and it
connects us in a very simple way.
From there, I came up with the idea of taking photographs of
people praying outside of a designated praying area ... When
I shared [photos] on Instagram, the first person who
responded was a person from Indonesia praying on the beach.
From there, it just grew. It's been really exciting to see
what everyone from around the globe is contributing to this
project.
What's the goal of your project, and how is it breaking
barriers?
"Places You'll Pray" can change perspectives and gives
[Muslims] a chance. We are constantly seeing images of
Islamophobia, and constantly seeing images of hate crimes.
This is [bothering us and] making it seem like we don't do
anything but cause chaos—and that is not true. There
is a majority of Muslims not [portrayed in] mainstream media
who I am trying to show today through this project. If
someone can see an image of a Muslim praying peacefully in a
place that is very common to everyone, then that is [the
first step to understanding]. We are no longer seeing
negative images, but rather seeing more positive.
What kind of feedback have you received from non-Muslims
?
A lot, actually. In the beginning, there was a pagan woman
who was following our page; she was wonderful, and sent
messages saying she really appreciated ["Places You'll
Pray"] and that it reminds her a lot of her prayers. I got
comments from people from different religions. When I
introduced it to my classmates, they were very intrigued,
and asked many questions about Islam and why we pray five
times a day ... It is exactly what I wanted: discussion and
questions. I wanted people to ask, rather than walk by and
have something in their head but never ask.
Praying is a very personal act; why do Muslims pray in
public places?
I do question why we have to pray in public, and we
shouldn't have to. But when you think about it, there is not
a mosque on every single block. If there was a mosque on
every single block, then people would take the opportunity
to pray at a mosque. But when it's time to pray, it's time
to pray. Even if you have to stop and do it somewhere
publicly, then you will, but safety is always first ... If
you are alone, especially right now, make sure you are
safe.
And this is not a project to try to start some kind of
statement; it is a project that is showcasing what Muslims
do during prayer. Most of the time, if you are an American
Muslim that works from 9 to 5, you are not at home for two
of your prayers. So, you're bound to pray where people are
around.
Do you believe "Places You'll Pray" is bridging a gap
between non-Muslim Americans and the Muslim American
community?
Absolutely. There was a really funny comment on one of the
photos where someone was thinking it was yoga. It's not
yoga, but if you want to join in with whoever is praying,
then go for it.
