Strive & Struggle. Islam Does not teach us to Wait for a Savior.
On April 17, Br. Kaukab Siddique gave the juma khutba at
masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen. The attendance was thin owing
to orders issued by the
Governor of Maryland.
Texts
Or do you think that you shall enter Paradise without such
(trials) as came to those who passed away before you? They
were afflicted with suffering and adversity, and were so
shaken in spirit that even the Messenger and those who
believed along with him said, "When will the help of Allah
come?" ~ Quran 2:214
O Prophet, struggle against the rejectors and the hypocrites
and be harsh upon them. And their refuge is Hell, and
wretched is their destination.
- Qur'an 9:73
I heard the Messenger of Allah say, "Whoever of you sees an
evil must change it with his hand. If he is not able to do
so, then [he must change it ] with his words. And if he is
not able to do so, then [he must change it] with his heart.
And that is the lowest level of faith."
-Sahih Muslim. Narrated by Abu Saeed al-Khudri, r.a.
Here is an outline of the khutba:
May Allah bless us this Ramadan and accept our fasting:
The world we live in is full of injustice, oppression and
poverty. The oppressors took control of the world and
installed their favorites in key positions.
Muslims are still trying to follow the teachings of Islam
but the version of Islam we now have is like the skeleton of
Islam, barely visible as the original, authentic Islam
brought by Muhammad, pbuh, to complete and perfect the
teachings of Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, Allah's
blessings be on all of them.
Once, to a particular audience, the Prophet, pbuh, taught
what we call the Five pillars of Islam. Muslims made the
five pillars the central aspects of Islam. What was meant to
be a means to an end became Islam in its entirety.
The Quran, the word of Allah, does not give the FIVE
PILLARS as if it is Islam itself. Almost all the bigger
surahs of Islam teach a message which most nMuslims in
America consider "dangerous." The one word which is central
to Islam is Jihad.
It could be peaceful striving through da'wah and sharing
of the best teachings we have or it could be armed struggle
against oppressors, against those who physically attack
Islam and , those who occupy Muslim countries, who terrorize
Muslim populations, who install tyrants and dictators among
us.
Muslims no longer take responsibility for what is going
on in the world. Instead of organizing, mobilizing and
defending the ummah who are soft targets for the
imperialists and Zionists, we wait for a savior.
This concept of the savior is not part of the Qur'an. In
fact it negates the Qur'an and the authentic hadith.
One sect which is now in power in Iran wants Muslims to
await the arrival of a hidden Mehdi, a savior who
disappeared as a chiild more than a thousand years back! Is
it in the Qur'an: NO!
Among the majority too the concept of the mehdi is
prevalent. It is based on 13 "hadith narrativres." Great
scholars like Ibn Khaldun have shown that these narratives
are fabricated and/or zaif. Is this kind of lesser mehdi
in the Qur'an? NO!
Finally, and the most persuasive of all is the idea
borrowed wholesale from Christianity that Jesus, pbuh, will
return and fill the world with justice! The supporters of
this concept point to a hadith narrated by Abu Huraira, r.a.
and two other younger sahaba.
The second coming of Jesus is not in the Qur'an though
some scholars try to interpret one verse to support that
thesis. However Faith, Heaven and Hell are not based on
interpretations but on clear, unambiguus, teachings.
The Qur'an clearly states what is the Islamic belief
system. Read 2:177. Belief in the return of Jesus , pbuh, is
not in it.
Now go the chapers on Faith, kitab al-Iman, in books of
hadith. None of them teach that we should believe in the
Second Coming of Jesus, pbuh.
The leaders of the Ummah, after Muhammad, pbuh, khulafa
e rashidoon, Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali, may Allah be
pleased with them, did not teach any second coming.
Finally, the Ushra Mubashira, the 12 great Companions of
the Prophet, pbuh, whom the Prophet, pbuh, taught during
their life time that they would be given Paradise, did not
teach the Second Coming.
So dear Muslims, we must change the world through our
own striving. No one is going to come down from heaven to do
it for us.
May Allah forgive our sins and our shortcomings. Ameen.
PAKISTAN
Islamabad.
Red Mosque & Women Defiant.
Pakistanis are defying the rules issued by Imran Khan to
control the Covid 19.
However the regime is trying in particular to suppress the
Red Mosque, Women's Seminary Jamia Hafsa. This masjid is
drawing large crowds and the regime is charging its leader
Maulana Abdul Aziz with criminal offenses.
Their web site and transmissions have been blocked and the
press publishing their paper has been seized.
However young women in hijab lay down on the ground in front
of police forces trying to enter the masjid. A large crowd
in support of the masjid gathered and police withdrew
complaining of danger of possibility of break down of law
and order.
War News
Syria
Latest news: April 17, 2020 ISIS forces entered the city of Al-Sukhnah.
The two articles below indicate the success of the latest
ISIS offensive in eastern Syria as seen by researchers
hostile to ISIS and sympathetic to Assad.
Although it is an overused phrase, ISIS clearly never went
away. The organization adapted quickly to its loss of
territory and after several months of costly battles
targeting urban centers in southern Deir Ez Zor, it
efficiently shifted to more classic insurgent attacks
striking the entirety of the Badia. ISIS has successfully
employed IEDs (including suicide vehicle-borne IEDs) and
anti-tank guided missiles, and even continued its use of DIY
drone bombs to strike regime-controlled gas and oil
infrastructure. These attacks have only grown in strength
over time, with the widest geographical reach of attacks
occurring over the past year. Despite the regime's
reclamation of Jabal Bishri, ISIS remains unhindered.
Crucial for both ISIS's freedom to operate and Damascus'
inability to properly counter this insurgency is the
reportedly high degree of local support for ISIS and the
porous border with Iraq, through which more manpower is able
to enter Syria. This second point is particularly important
because the SAA currently regards the region from southeast
Sukhnah to the Iraqi border as no-man's land. If Damascus is
serious about stopping ISIS attacks, it must secure this
area, but without also losing control of the Jabal Bishri
and north Sukhnah region. Judging by the regime's actions
over the past two years, there is little chance that it can
do so.
Research by the Counter Terrorism and Extremism Program lead
by Charles Lister, Waters and others in that group.
[Special thanks to Br. Athar.[
News Within the U.S.
Without a Face Mask, it can be bad for you. Most people
don't have Face Masks.
by Sis. Aisha [Jamaat al-Muslimeen]
On April 13th, a black man was dragged off of a Philadelphia
SEPTA bus by three transit officers for not wearing a mask.
And, he fought to stay on that bus. The City of Philadelphia
had just started requiring their public transportation
riders to wear face masks. He was not wearing a mask and
when the bus driver asked him to leave he refused so, the
police were called.
After that disturbing video of this violent incident was
distributed on social media, the City of Philadelphia
changed its policy from a requirement to an urging of people
to wear masks. However, in a very questionable move,
Governor Andrew Cuomo has now made it law for people to wear
masks in New York State.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) decided that as of
8pm April 17th, they would require that straphangers, using
either the subway or buses, wear masks. Interim MTA
President Sarah Feinberg sent MTA subscribers the new policy
via email. Many people, including MTA employees, already
wear masks and gloves to protect themselves from COVID-19.
Many of public service employees have been contracting and
succumbing to COVID-19, unfortunately.
But, my response to Sarah Feinberg was for her to supply
riders with the masks. Many people do not have access to
masks, How can they require people to have something so
difficult to get, right now?
The Philly Transit Riders Union was critical of SEPTA for
having the non-compliant rider removed so violently from a
bus but, recently, they tweeted a "thank you" message to
SEPTA for providing free masks to riders.
In New Jersey, non-compliant people are being arrested.
However, stores are imposing their own mask-wearing policies
and are having customers who refuse to wear them
arrested.
So far, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland are the only
states requiring the wearing of face masks.
This is an effort to reopen the economy. Many people have
already begun receiving their stimulus checks. So, come on
out! It is time to spend that money!
People want to see their sports teams play. It'll be Summer,
soon! Once this mask-wearing measure came into effect some
stores, such as CVS, allowed customers to come in and shop
freely without having to wait on a line outside the
store.
The question is are they doing this for our safety? Are they
simply waiting for people with COVID-19 to die or overcome
the disease? Will the U.S.A. Become like China and other
Asian countries where it is now customary to wear masks in
public?
I have no confidence in this waiting game if things are
going to return back to the way they were before COVID-19
became a threat here. Now, the U.S. COVID-19 deaths have
surpassed the rest of the world's combined.
Many health experts have stated that you cannot stop a virus
so, you have to let it run its course. The body has been
equipped with defense mechanisms that fight off bacteria and
viruses unless there are additional complications. You can
take remedies that aid the body in those defenses unless the
doctor says it conflicts with any prescribed medicine. Most
of the people succumbing to the coronavirus have additional
illnesses. Preventive measures are best.
(Sources: NYTimes.com & Yahoo.com)
Many Cities in the U.S. Protest Coronavirus Restrictions.
Here in Maryland, close to where New Trend is based,
hundreds of protesters clogged the city's streets in a
parade of cars in protest of restrictions on the economy
brought about by the governor in response to the coronavirus
pandemic.
"More people die from poverty than this coronavirus. We
grieve those losses, they are real lives, but so are all
these people who are suffering," said organizer Evie Harris,
a Baltimore-area nurse.
But the decision to close all non-essential businesses to
mitigate its spread resulted in sharp economic losses and
severe consequences that many protesters fear will be
lasting.
Nearly 22 million people filed unumployment across the
country.
"If I don't get back to work, I can't live. I have no money
coming in," said Dolores Garrity, a Kent Island resident who
owns a small hair salon with four employees in Crofton.
"It's either die from the coronavirus if you catch it or die
from not being able to live," Garrity, 61, said.
Covid 19
Holistic Hygiene - the Only Answer to Infectious Diseases
by Dr. Javed Jamil.
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to take some
hygienic measures with extreme seriousness. What is
extraordinary in these measures is that rather than leaving
it to the individuals, the governments are enforcing them.
Unfortunately though, similar concerns were not shown in the
wake of HIV pandemic when unhygienic sexual practices
(promiscuity, prostitution, homosexuality, ec) were creating
havoc all over the world. No concept like "sexual
distancing" similar to the currently in vogue "Social
distancing" was proposed then. This is despite the fact that
more than 38 million people have died of AIDS in the last 25
years. If we think over the infectious diseases in general
and viral epidemics in particular, we will have no option
but to conclude that hygiene has a much larger scope than
what is normally believed and practiced as hygiene. And if
we include other non-infectious major killers of the world
(like alcohol), we will have to further expand it developing
a holistic regime of hygiene. This is exactly what I tried
to develop in my book, "Economics First or Health First?"
(published in 2019), the work that argued for implementing
Dynamic Paradigm of Health in the international system of
affairs if life is to survive and become healthy and
peaceful.
If we want total health, we need a purer world; if we want a
purer world, we need total hygiene. Hygiene is currently
being used in a very limited sense. According to the World
Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and
practices that help to maintain health and prevent the
spread of diseases. Medical hygiene therefore includes a
specific set of practices associated with this preservation
of health, for example environmental cleaning, sterilization
of equipment, hand hygiene, water and sanitation and safe
disposal of medical waste."1
It is clear that the WHO definition mainly refers to
external physical hygiene and can hardly be described a
definition of comprehensive hygiene. If we want to have
comprehensive plan of hygiene, we will have to include the
following:
Internal Physical Hygiene: no exposure to alcohol, drugs,
tobacco etc;
External Physical Hygiene: regular washing of the exposed
organs of the body, cleaning of the area after each passing
of urine and defecation, cleaning of hands after touching
any unclean things, maintenance of mouth hygiene through
brushing of teeth, etc;
Sexual Hygiene: sex only with spouses of opposite sex, no
to promiscuity, homosexuality, sex with animals, incest,
paedophilia, anal sex and sex during menses and immediate
postnatal period, oral sex and washing of mouth and private
parts soon after intercourse;
Mental Hygiene: no to any such activities that can incite
people to indulge in life-threatening activities, like
pornography, watching sex and violence, reading materials
that can lead to corrupting thoughts;
Spiritual hygiene: preaching to others, meditation,
services to the people, charity, etc;
Environmental Hygiene: cleaning of clothes and
surroundings and strictly maintain environmental
equipoise;
Social Hygiene: no to economic exploitation and
corruption, commercialisation of unhealthy practices,
murders, spreading mischief, rumours, etc.
But this holistic regime will have hardly any takers because
of the interests of the forces of economics and politics.
External Physical Hygiene is of utmost importance for the
market forces because it suits them. Internal Physical
hygiene, mental hygiene, sexual hygiene and social hygiene
have no meaning for them, as these can pose serious threats
to their vested interests. If internal hygiene is promoted,
tobacco and alcohol industries will nosedive; if sexual
hygiene is applied, many industries including film,
pornography, prostitution and tourism will become defunct;
and if a campaign for social hygiene ensues, gambling
industries will perish. For the forces of economics, it is
the health of industries, not that of human beings, that
matters more. Let people suffer, but under no circumstances
market can be allowed to suffer. Let the people be killed,
families be disintegrated, tensions of all kinds plague
society, but the interests of the corporate must never be
allowed to be killed; slump must not disintegrate them and
non-growth must not plague them.
Natural Primary versus Artificial Primary Prevention
Normally prevention is classified as Primary and Secondary,
Primary involving prevention before he emergence of the
diseases and Secondary involving further prevention after
the disease has emerged. I have further classified Primary
Prevention into Natural and Artificial. Natural Primary
prevention can be defined as the avoidance of such
activities and attempts to prevent such environmental
conditions to emerge and grow as may be conducive to the
development of diseases. Artificial Primary Prevention can
be defined as the prevention of diseases through use of
certain materials, medical products, vaccines, or equipment.
Pharmaceuticals thrive on the spread of diseases, and so do
the doctors, the owners of nursing homes and hospitals and
paramedical personnel. Natural Prevention has therefore been
able to grasp much less attention than Artificial Prevention
and management; because Natural Primary Prevention is
perilous for their commercial interests. The latter has
received greater attention, because it is beneficial for
the industries. While the mouth hygiene and body hygiene
are emphasised upon as these propel the sales of thousands
of varieties of tooth-brushes, tooth-pastes, lotions, soap,
sanitary pads etc., a term like 'sexual hygiene' (except of
course the use of condoms) has found no mention anywhere.
The result is that, while all other infections in the US
(and most other developed countries) have shown remarkable
decrease in the last half century, Sex transmitted diseases
are on the rise. Out of the top 10 infections in the US,
five are STDs and about every fifth of adult has a STD. More
than 15 million Americans contract STD annually. These are
staggering figures for a superpower that has the biggest
medical network in the world. If Sexual Hygiene were
popularised, the sex-market could have crashed. Even the
Hotel, Food, Garments and tourism industries would have
suffered. Hence, only the artificial preventive methods that
invariably advocate the use of condoms were chosen to allay
the fears of the promiscuous and the pervert and those
coming in their contact. The odour emanating from the mouth
of a person not properly brushing his teeth gives sleepless
nights to the industries, but the foul smell from the mouth
of smokers and drinkers have never caused any alarm. The
health of mouth and skin (that is to be kept healthy through
creams, lotions and powders) has always kept them worried
but not that of liver, heart, brain and lungs. The death and
destruction on a much greater scale due to alcoholism have
never bothered them. Similarly, the problems due to the
steady increase in human population has been a matter of
huge importance necessitating world-wide campaign, but the
much greater and severer problems owing to the rapid
increase in the population of vehicles have not even come to
their notice. Such indeed has been the perfection with which
the economic fundamentalists have been promoting their plans
that their interests can easily be visualised in almost all
the campaigns being pushed by the governments or
international agencies.
To sum up, the modern approach towards health is to promote
artificial prevention of diseases requiring the use of
certain materials produced by the market, like toothpastes,
creams, vaccines of different types, condoms, jellies, etc.
Natural Primary prevention involving ban on harmful
practices like alcohol, unhealthy sexual behaviours,
prostitution, promiscuity, smoking, gambling, etc. has no
takers, as such a strategy of prevention would imperil the
interests of the market. The Dynamic Paradigm of Health
however proposed by me presents a holistic regime of
hygiene.
This holistic approach has the following components:
Natural Primary Prevention
It will be involving active measures, involving Legal,
Executive and Social measures to stop harmful practices like
alcohol, unhealthy sexual behaviours, prostitution,
promiscuity, smoking, gambling, etc. Items and practices
that are unhealthy by their very nature or become natural
habitat for infections cannot be allowed to be available to
the people on the pretext of Freedom of Choice. Allow good
choices not the dangerous choices!
Artificial Primary Prevention
It will support all the health-protective measures like
vaccines, safe drinking water, condoms in special
circumstances and use of pastes and creams. But these should
not undermine the importance of Natural Primary Prevention
and should only have an additional role.
Treatment and Management
Treatment and Management including all its dimensions will
of course remain the mainstay of treating the diseases.
However, again, as part of the follow-up, Natural Prevention
is to be stressed wherever it can help in stopping the
recurrence of the diseases.
It can be seen that most of the measures related to Natural
Primary prevention are not going to be easily accepted or
promoted by the forces of globalisation. Artificial
preventive measures are aggressively promoted and Natural
prevention is not given its due. The current international
paradigm of health is therefore an incomplete programme,
which makes serious compromises on health for the sake of
the dominant forces.
This also explains why Pulse Polio Campaign has been run at
an unprecedented level in the last three decades throughout
the Third World while campaigns against diseases like
Malaria and Tuberculosis have lagged far behind both in pace
and intensity. This is despite the fact that while Polio
hardly kills anybody and only paralyses a few thousands,
Tuberculosis and Malaria kill millions of people every year.
But as anti-tubercular and anti-malarial drugs are
manufactured by the Pharmaceutical industry, they have no
interest in pursuing campaigns that would reduce their
incidence. If these diseases are controlled through
preventive methods by the governmental agencies and other
organisations, the sales of the medicines will suffer a huge
loss. In contrast, polio has no treatment available in the
market. It has only vaccines as a preventive measure. The
industrialists know it very well that the masses are more
inclined to spend money for treating a problem rather than
preventing it. It is therefore more expedient, they
calculate, to sell vaccines through the governmental and
other agencies. Not only will this ensure greater sales of
vaccines but will also ensure the utilisation of
governmental funds in industry-friendly activities. In this
way, the money they give as taxes will be used indirectly
for their own benefits.
"Dynamic Paradigm of Health"
Holistic Hygiene is a part of "Dynamic Paradigm of Health"
that I have proposed. It gives a Holistic Definition of
Health, which is as follows:
"Health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual
and social wellbeing, which must be safeguarded not only
through the maintenance of a health preserving regime at the
personal/individual level, but also through the
establishment of a health-protective and health-promoting
family system and a health-protective and health-promoting
social system."
Interestingly, in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak, for the
first time the system appears to be functioning as an
actively health-protective system. People are not being left
with the option of living with their own freedom of choices
but are being forced to follow a strict regime. The same
health-protective philosophy has o be adopted if a long term
plan on maintaining health has to be put in place.
Individuals cannot be left with their own health-protective
options. The system will have to be health-protective
withholding those choices that are inherently dangerous for
life.
Therapeutic Sociology
This approach will also require a change in the philosophy
of community medicine. The current international curriculum
of medicine has Social and Preventive Medicine also known as
Community Medicine as one its chief disciplines. This
subject studies the statistics related to the various
diseases, the factors associated with its spread, how to
respond to widespread medical problems at a large scale like
epidemics and endemics and how to prevent them. The public
health programmes like Population Control/Reproductive &
Child Health, vaccination programmes for diseases like
Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Meningitis, Hepatitis, Bird
Flu, Chicken pox, Polio, etc, anti-mosquito drives,
Tuberculosis and Leprosy control programmes and the
Programme for control of HIV/AIDS come under the Community
Medicine. This is also taught as one of the subjects in the
medical degree courses all over the world as well as a
postgraduate course. With the march of "globalisation",
community health too has gone "global".
The basic problem with the Community Medicine is that it
focuses only on finding medical solutions to the medical
problems created by social reasons. There is hardly any talk
of finding social solutions to medical problems caused by
social practices of different kinds. When the forces of
economic fundamentalism contemplated that the population
should not be allowed to grow at the current speed if their
model of "growth" has to succeed, the medical experts were
approached, and they began to put all their energies in
finding medical ways to control the population. When the
market forces embarked upon the "sexual revolution" that
required protection of men and women against pregnancies and
sex transmitted diseases, the medical fraternity was quick
to provide all kinds of solutions. The social transformation
was being pushed through in accordance with the demands of
the market, which more often than not brought new diseases
to the epidemiological levels. While formulating the laws of
the country, economics was given the chief consideration and
health became an easy victim. There is now a need to change
the whole concept of Community Medicine. The focus must now
be shifted to finding social solutions to problems arising
out of social practices or changes. Instead of being the
only solution, the medical solutions should be an important
supplement to the social solutions. I have named this
approach as Therapeutic Sociology.
Therapeutic Sociology is not a passive concept like
Community Medicine. It is an aggressive and dynamic concept
that has an overriding and overpowering influence on all the
other aspects of social life, both governmental and
non-governmental. It will not be a mere spectator to what is
happening or developing on the earth but would pose a
challenge to the dangerous ideas and practices. The primary
purpose of human living is to avoid death and disease and
promote a healthy being, and this primary objective must
never be lost sight of in the glitter of the market.
Therapeutic Sociology would be a wall in the way of the
forces that care little for the masses and exploit their
weaknesses for their own ends. Therapeutic Sociology will
conduct health impact studies of all the developments taking
place, and will then suggest suitable remedial changes in
legal, social and medical structure to stop the march of the
diseases and deaths. It will also help in developing a
"healthy morality" aimed at ensuring health and peace in
society in place of "commercial morality".
To sum up, the aims of Therapeutic Sociology will be:
To ensure that the supremacy of health is never
compromised with in the affairs at different levels:
individual, family, social, national and international;
To campaign for establishing and strengthening a
health-protective and promoting family system;
To campaign for establishing and strengthening a
health-protective and promoting social system;
To ensure that the national and international laws are
rewritten to safeguard health;
To ensure that substances and practices that are decidedly
dangerous for human beings are not allowed to exist or at
least prosper;
To conduct health impact studies of different
socio-economic developments and spread awareness about
them;
To aggressively campaign against the institutions that are
involved in practices that increase dangers for the lives of
human beings;
To create atmospheric and environmental conditions
suitable for promotion of health;
To promote a model of family health that is conducive for
the health of men, women and children;
To focus on both the primary and secondary preventive methods;
To unveil the designs of economic and political forces, so
that they are not able to do anything that endangers health
in any way;
To promote such customs and rituals as are beneficial for
individual's health, family health and the health of the
masses;
To lay an equal stress on the survival and health of all
the human beings in different stages of lives: foetus,
paediatric, adolescent, youth, middle aged and
geriatric;
To lay an equal stress on the health of both the genders:
men and women
Dynamic Paradigm of Health needs to be applied to:
Make certain changes in the constitutions of the countries;
Make certain important changes in the objectives and
methodology of the international institutions;
Introduce new concepts in medical education;
Develop a dynamic attitude among the doctors to change the
course of the socio-economic path;
Develop new strategies to combat the health problems faced
by the mankind.
The Covid-19 outbreak has provided the world an opportunity
to follow a more aggressive path to ensure survival and high
standards of life. Market forces and he political forces
cannot be allowed to dictate the health programmes and the
philosophies behind them. Life and health need to be seated
and remain in the driver's seat without any break.
* Dr Javed Jamil is a thinker, physician, poet and writer
with over twenty books to his credit including his latest,
"Economics First or Health First?", "The Devil of Economic
Fundamentalism", "The Killer Sex". "In Search of a
Comprehensive Solution for AIDS", "Islam and Family
Planning" and "Rediscovering the Universe". He is currently
holds Chair in Yenepoya (Deemed to be) University,
Mangalore, Karnataka (India). He can be contacted at
doctorforu123@yahoo.com
.
Guidance by Sis. Yasmin.
'Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was SalaatuWas Salaam 'ala
Rasulillah'..
***********************************************************************
'As-Salaam Alaikum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakatuhu'.
'Do they not see that they are tried every year once or
twice but then they
do not repent nor do they remember '?
{Source~'Qur'an'~ Surat At Tawbah ~ 9~ A # 126.}
~My 'Salaams' to all~
~Y a s m i n ~
Hadith of the Week
Narrated by
'Abdullah bin 'Amr, r.a. The Prophet said,
"A Muslim is the one who avoids harming Muslims with his
tongue and hands. And a Muhajir (emigrant) is the one who
gives up all what Allah has forbidden."
Note from Editor:
he has a sense of humor - if you know Punjabi, it's worth
watching!
Israeli Forces Open Fire at Palestinian Fishermen, Farmers in Gaza
Israeli forces opened fire today at Palestinian fishermen
sailing off the Gaza Strip and at farmers, to the east of
Khan Younis in two separate incidents, said local
sources.
Israeli navy opened fire on fishermen despite sailing within
the unilaterally designated fishing zone offshore Gaza City,
causing damage to at least one boat.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers stationed at military
watchtowers along the Gaza perimeter fence to the east of
Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, opened random fire
toward Palestinian farmers as they were working in their own
farms. No injuries were reported.
Gaza, with a population of 2 million, has been under a
hermetic Israeli siege since 2006, when the Palestinian
group Hamas won the democratic legislative elections in
occupied Palestine. Since then, Israel has carried out
numerous bombing campaigns and several major wars, that
resulted in the death of thousands of people.
Israeli forces routinely target Palestinian farmers and
fishermen, despite the fact that this constitutes a blatant
violation of international agreements and human rights.
Persecuted Uighur Population In China At Risk Of Coronavirus
Exposure In Xinjiang Camps
Threat Of Starvation, Death Elevated By Conditions Imposed
By Chinese Communist Party
(New York, N.Y.) - China's continued detention of more than
one million Uighur's in what U.S. officials have called
"concentration camps" has put the persecuted population at
heightened risk of contracting the novel coronavirus,
COVID-19. More than 50 coronavirus cases have been reported
in the northeastern region of Xinjiang. Many worry the
camp-like conditions make social distancing implausible.
Uighur communities, who already face gross human rights
abuses at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),
have not been able to prepare for COVID-19, putting millions
at risk for starvation, illness, and death. According to the
McCain Institute, the CCP has also been accused of forcing
Uighurs to labor in factories across the country to make up
for laborers in quarantine. Since the beginning of the year,
a large number of Uighurs have reportedly "graduated" from
the camps and have been assigned to work in factories
dedicated to manufacturing for 83 multinational
corporations.
Following international condemnation of the Xinjiang Uyghur
Autonomous Region (XUAR) camps in July of 2019, Chinese
officials claimed that they released the majority of the
detainees. The U.S., experts on China, and ethnic Uighur
Muslims contested the claim. The CCP has not offered
convincing evidence of those mass releases claimed last
year, and it is reported that people who had been freed
effectively remained in captivity as many were forced into
labor programs instead.
In the past, Chinese authorities have claimed the detention
campaign against this minority group stemmed from the idea
that extremist religious ideology, often promulgated over
the Internet, has corrupted the Uighurs in Xinjiang,
prompting many to pursue separatism through terrorist means.
Beginning in early 2017, China implemented broad campaigns
in the XUAR under the guise of countering extremism. In
April of 2017, the XUAR government mandated "re-education"
programs for members of ethnic minority communities and
students who study overseas in an effort to better
"assimilate" back into Chinese society. Citing terrorism
concerns, authorities in the XUAR required all residents to
install a surveillance application on smart phones that
automatically detects "terrorist and illegal" religious
videos, images, e-books, and electronic documents.
I ransacked my library to choose the most suitable book to
read for this free period: fiction? politics ? leadership or
motivational?
I had chosen John Grisham's 'The Chamber" which happens to
be my favourite in my Grisham's collection but something
told me to go for 'My Vision'!
' My Vision' was originally written in Arabic by Mohammed
Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum ,the vice president of UAE and the
ruler of Dubai ( don't know what he is now). Every page of
this book makes me sorry for the masses of this country,
most especially the educated illiterates. In summary, as
economically viable as UAE is Mohammed still believes the
leadership needs to realize that there's no room for
hesitation about the speed to actualize many ideas.
To begin with, my choice of words around the title of this
piece in relation to ineptitude of our leaders is for want
of better word and because I am not ready to give my time to
this as such(just pass the message across and go back to
reading) because our leaders truly know what they are doing
if they refuse to listen to the yearnings of many reasonable
callers to true self determination. They cannot risk it
!
We have people that are exceptionally brilliant amongst
those who wield authority; some of them are first class
graduates of reputable Universities, some of them have
certifications in virtually all fields of human endeavor.
Yet, parochialism has rendered all these beautiful
instruments impotent.
My real targets here are political jobbers and other
charlatans who come on internet to echo everything said by
government or government agencies . See, many of you do not
know what it really takes to be supporters or fans of a
government. Many of you people are hypocritical warriors on
internet and cursers in the real life. Stop the fake
life!
Those of you that are vomiting and castigating the anti 5G
advocates are really confused. Kindly tell me the potential
harms in mellowing down on such projects for our dear
country for now. How many indigenous projects have you
written or spoken in favour as vehemently as you're doing
for imported 5G. If your answer is none, you can start
measuring the length of your myopia!
The nub of your oblivion is your erroneous thoughts that
castigating your loved political hero is like washing their
dirty linens in public. You're very wrong! Criticisms from
fans is what actually make true leaders see clearer. Unlike
those from fault finders who want them fail ab-initio.
I love PMB immeasurably but I know there is level at which
honest mistakes are pardonable. So I am naturally duty bound
to let his adminstration feel that the price for slow or
belated actions is unredeemable hatred. I want his
administrationto be a matter of ' repsa loquito' by the time
he hands over the government, meaning that I want his aids
and we his lovers to have less to say while his achievements
do most of the talkings.
Ultimately, we all have to go back to the drawing board and
come with propositions that will push this government to a
lot of realizations.
