Non-Muslims readers might be surprised to know this.
The Qur'an Does not teach war Against Christians, Jews,
Hindus or any other religion
by Kaukab Siddique, PhD
The Qur'an calls Christians and Jews with the highly
respectable title of People of the Book. Islam teaches
Muslims to defend the places of worship including
Synagogues. When the Prophet, pbuh, migrated from Makka to
Madina, he set up a Constitutional Charter which gave equal
rights to Jews.
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph and Jesus, peace be on them,
who are venerated by Jews and/or Christians are described
by the Qur'an as the messengers of Allah who brought the
truth from Allah Almighty.
Muslims oppose and fight against invaders and occupiers and
those who violate women and enslave/exploit women.
[O you who believe! Enter not houses other than your own,
until you have asked permission and greeted those in them.
That is better for you in order that you may remember
--Qur'an 24:27]
However, before fighting, Muslims are taught patience and
restraint. Even debating and disagreement must be decent
and non-abusive.
Differences should not lead to conflict. We must find ways
to peace and co-existence.
In short Muslims oppose and, when possible, fight oppressors
including Muslims who are oppressors.
The western powers helped Zionists to occupy Palestine.
NATO and America occupied Afghanistan.
The British and Hindus united to occupy Kashmir.
The Russians occupied Chechnia and are now in Syria.
France, Britain, Belgium, Italy and others occupied Africa.
,
These powers support and plant brutal dictators in Muslim
countries like the tyrant Sissi in Egypt, Assad in Syria,
the Saudis in Arabia.
Pakistan
Ji report
Jamaat Sit-in Continues in Karachi
by Qaiser Sharif
Deputy Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, former parliamentary leader
Liaqat Baloch has said that PPP leadership and Sindh Chief
Minister should adopt democratic, public attitude.
Through the Sindh Assembly, the people have rejected the
Local Government Act as a black law. Federal and provincial
governments are bound by the constitution. The people of
Karachi have expressed confidence in the sit-in of
Jamaat-e-Islami and the leadership of Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman.
After the PPP and Muslim League governments, the PTI
government has also joined in the increase of sorrows and
worries in Karachi. The Sindh government should show
democratic courage and empower rural and urban systems and
civil rights. People across the country are calling the
sit-in of Jamaat-e-Islami in front of the Sindh Assembly an
expression of constitutional, democratic and public
sentiments.
Liaqat Baloch said that at the end of Gwadar sit-in in "Give
Right to Balochistan" movement, Chief Minister and
Provincial Ministers, Chief Secretary signed a written
agreement, announced implementation in front of people and
media and justified all public demands, but now
implementation is not being done. If the provincial
government is helpless, it should declare its helplessness
and not exploit the people.Officials of federal and state
agencies are harming federal and national security through
corruption, money laundering and abuse of power. No
unilateral national security policy in the closed rooms of
Islamabad would get things done, grievances of the people of
Gwadar (Balochistan) must have to be listened to and
restoration of the empowered local government system and
civil rights has to be made part of the national security
policy.
Liaqat Baloch said that Prime Minister Imran Khan could not
bear the wrath of his minister Pervez Khattak and was
building bridges of praise. To save his seat, Imran Khan is
blackmailing his members, ministers and allied parties to
cling to traditional politics and power. Every coming day
and every passing moment Imran Khan is ringing the bells of
the end of the government. It is in this uncertainty that
the plight of the poor people is emerging. Increase in
petrol/diesel, electricity prices, gas cut off have become a
torment for the people. The people are suffering the
consequences of incompetent government.
War News
Syria [SOHR report]
Major Prison Break. Heavy Russian bombing, US helicopters.
January 22. US air force is bombing the area around a prison
where ISIS fighters are hiding. US land forces have
arrived.
Islamic State fighters broke the biggest prison in Hasakeh
province, Ghuwayran area. In heavy fighting SDF related
forces killed 61 prisoners and suffered 34 deaths. 7
civilians were also killed.
136 prisoners have been re-arrested but hundreds have
escaped.
Islamic women in al-Hawl prson are celebrating ISIS attack
on Ghuwayran prison. ISIS have posted videos of prison
guards they have caprured.
January 22. Russian jets carried out 82 air strikes in Homs
and Deir ez Zor provinces aimed at Islamic State
;positions.
ISIS fighters are attacking Assad's forces in southern
al-Raqqa province. Assadis are responding with heavy
artillery.
Several ISIS attacks on SDF [pro-American] along the
southeastern Euphrates river.
Yemen
January 20. A Saudi air strike on a detention center killed
nearly 100 prisoners. Three children were killed in a second
air strike.
Pakistan
January 20.
A bomb explosion in Lahore's popular Anarkali bazar killed
3 people and injured 33. It is allegedly a revenge attack by
the outlawed TTP group.
News Within the U.S.
[Read his last statements. Do you think he was a terrorist
or a Martyr?
Don't say anything.]
[New Trend Editor]
Texas synagogue: Brother urged hostage-taker to surrender
BBC
Listen: Brother tells hostage-taker, "pack it in and come home"
The British gunman who held four people hostage in a Texas
synagogue was urged to surrender by his brother in their
final phone call, it has emerged.
An audio recording of the conversation was obtained by the
Jewish Chronicle.
In the call, which gunman Malik Faisal Akram made to his
family in Blackburn as the siege was going on, he tells his
brother he has "come to die".
Two men were arrested in Manchester and Birmingham on
Thursday morning in relation to the attack, police said.
Akram, 44, was shot dead by the FBI after the 10-hour
standoff in Colleyville, near Dallas, with all four hostages
unharmed.
He had entered the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue during
a morning service by pretending to be homeless, before
pulling out a gun.
Hostage-taker was known to MI5
Rabbi describes escaping Texas synagogue gunman
In the clip Akram can be heard giving an anti-Semitic rant
as his mental state deteriorates and the tension inside the
synagogue increases.
It also reveals the efforts made by Akram's brother Gulbar
to get him to surrender - as he tries repeatedly to talk him
into giving himself up, telling him that his hostages are
innocent people and asking him to think about his
children.
But the gunman tells his brother he has set his heart on
dying and he wants to "go down as a martyr".
"I've only been here two weeks and I've got them all at
gunpoint," he says, later adding: "I'm coming back home in a
body bag."
The recording of the phone call was obtained from a security
source, the Jewish Chronicle says. The BBC is unable to
vouch for its authenticity but experts believe it to be
genuine.
The incident began at about 11:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Saturday
In a barely coherent rant, thick with four-letter
expletives, Akram rails against Jews and US military actions
in the Middle East.
He repeatedly calls for convicted Pakistani neuroscientist
Aafia Siddiqui, imprisoned in nearby Fort Worth, to be
released. She is serving an 86-year prison sentence over
attempts to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Akram also tells his brother: "I've prayed to Allah for two
years for this."
MI5 had investigated Akram 18 months ago but decided he did
not pose a risk to national security.
Lesson from Hadith by Sis. Yasmin
********************************************************************
"Outwardly the Grave is stillness while
inwardly it is either punishment or bliss."
The intelligent man is the one who protects himself against
the evil of this punishment before it is too late.
Such a man knows with certainty that sooner or later his day
will come,
and that this moment is known
only to the Almighty Creator.
It might come without warning... !
When it comes a man leaves behind all the wealth he has
amassed and moves to another world.
Only there will he feel regret !
But, regret then will not do him any good.
because in that place,
only good actions are of any use.
They alone will be useful currency
on that critical day.
Only with them will he be able to purchase a magnificent
mansion in the Garden with all the luxuries and blessings it
contains, and an everlasting mansion, not one which
disappears as things do in this world...!
The intelligent man is the one who acts for this world as if
he were going to live forever and acts for the
Next World as if he were going to die tomorrow."
[Source: Ibn Al-Qayyim (r) |quoted from an abridgement of
his Kitabar-Ruh]
MY 'SALAAMS' TO ALL
**********************************
Y a s m i n.
==========================================
"All that is on earth will Perish. But will abide
{Forever}
the Face of thy Lord, full of Majesty, Bounty and Honor"
{'Qur'an'- Surah Al-Rahman-55. A# 26-27 }
************************************************
'Wasting time is Worse than Death!
Because Death Separates you from this World
Whereas wasting Time Separates you from Allah'.
[ Ibn Qayimm Al-Jawziyyah. (R) ]
Invitation to Think
[Syrian Dictator is Iran's Best Friend.
First Glimpse of Mass Murderer Assad's Agent.]
German court sentences Syrian intelligence officer to life
in prison for war crimes
January 13, 20224:50 PM ET NPR
A German court sentenced a Syrian intelligence officer to
life in prison, in a landmark war crimes trial.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
German judges sentenced a former Syrian intelligence officer
to life in prison in a historic verdict - guilty of crimes
against humanity. The trial took place in the German city of
Koblenz. The defendant, 58-year-old Anwar Raslan, was
convicted of overseeing the murder of 27 people and the
torture of 4,000 people in a Damascus prison. NPR's Deborah
Amos was in the courtroom.
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: The verdict was seen as a victory for
Syrian torture survivors, the very people that the regime of
Bashar al-Assad had tried to silence in a civil uprising
that turned in to a war. Some 50 Syrian survivors, many who
braved threats to families back home, gave evidence of
brutal torture, humiliation and starvation in a prison known
as Branch 251 in a residential neighborhood in Damascus
flanked by a grocery store and a pharmacy.
The defendant, Anwar Raslan, a Syrian intelligence officer,
was in charge of interrogation there. He told the court he
never tortured anyone.
But Wassim Mukdad says he suffered there for months after
his arrest in 2012. He's a Syrian musician now based in
Berlin, a co-plaintiff in the case. Our suffering was not in
vain, he said soon after the verdict was announced. He had a
front-row courtroom seat to witness the final session
today.
WASSIM MUKDAD: This verdict say it loud and clear that the
criminals will pay for their crimes sooner or later.
AMOS: Sooner for Anwar Raslan, as the judges found the
brutality systematic in 4,000 cases of torture, a ruling
that had special significance for Syrian human rights lawyer
Anwar al-Bunni. The evidence showed Raslan didn't act alone.
And for Bunni, the Koblenz verdict was an indictment of the
Assad regime itself.
ANWAR AL-BUNNI: I care about the verdicts mentioned as
crimes against humanity. It's committed by state, by the
regime.
AMOS: Another unprecedented aspect of this trial - the
prosecution of war crimes committed by a regime still in
power which denies it commits torture despite widespread
evidence. In the short term, this verdict will change little
in Damascus, says Mazen Darwish, a torture victim and a
lawyer. But now, he says, there is an official record, a
court record that refutes regime claims.
MAZEN DARWISH: Now there is a legal decision from
independent court say, yes, this is true. This is the first
time we have this kind of decision.
AMOS: There were other firsts in Koblenz, precedents for
future trials, but still much to unpack from the proceedings
today. One is Raslan's life sentence. Under German law, a
life sentence means the possibility of parole in 15 years.
Anna Oehmichen, a lawyer who worked on behalf of four Syrian
plaintiffs, says the court didn't choose the harshest
option.
ANNA OEHMICHEN: They did not establish special gravity of
guilt, which they could have done as well.
AMOS: The judges may have considered that Raslan released
some prisoners, and he defected from the regime in 2012. It
could also mean that the court considered him a cog in a
bigger wheel and left room for harsher sentences in future
trials, she says.
OEHMICHEN: It is not the worst that there's still some
leeway up that others will get a harder punishment than
him.
AMOS: The witnesses and the German lawyers who support them
say this is a first step, hardly justice but a sign that
accountability may be possible. There are more trials
scheduled. But on this day, sunny and cold in a western town
in Germany, Syrian torture survivors and their families
celebrated a sliver of hope.
Deborah Amos, NPR News, Koblenz, Germany.
Obituary
Chicago:
Prof. Aqueel Alam Khan passed away on January 18.
Back in time. He saved Maulana Maudoodi from Mukti Bahini in
Dhaka
Community leader, poet, philosopher,
a man of great love and sensitivity, his bearded face glowed
with positive ideas.
Though deep in western civilization, he lived easily with
Islamic personality and world view, inspired by the beauty
of Iqbal's poetry. He loved to recite the Qur'an. He was
fluent in Urdu, Persian, Arabic and Bangla
He was very kind to me and to everyone.
During the collapse of East :Pakistan, he drove through the
murderous gangs of Mukti Bahini to stop Maulana Maudoodi
from going to :Paltan Maidan.
Maulana Maudoodi did not know that the pro-India secularists
were slaughtering unarmed supporters of Pakistan and were
waiting to kill Maulana sahib.
He did hijra more than once: From Bihar to East Pakistan in
1947. He set up a book store and taught Islamic values.
From East Pakistan to West Pakistan in 1971. From West
Pakistan to USA.
In Chicago, he served the community, always humble and
taking on the smallest responsibilities.
Thanks go to Dr. T. for .letting me know him..
My condolences go to Khan sahib's extended family.
Inna lillahe wa inna alaihi rajiun.
We come from Allah and unto Allah we return.
Turkish Media Hail French Parliament's move against China's
Genocice of Uighur Muslims.
January 20: France's parliament on Thursday passed a
resolution describing "systematic violence" against Uyghurs
in China's Xinjiang region a "genocide."
The resolution, which asked the government to recognize the
"genocide," was adopted with 169 votes in favor and one
against in France's National Assembly.
President Emmanuel Macron's Republic on the Move party also
supported the resolution.
In Xinjiang, ethnic Uyghur Muslims have been subjected to
years of abuse of their identity and culture. According to
UN data, at least 1 million Uyghurs are kept against their
will in places Beijing calls "vocational training centers"
but which critics call places for indoctrination, abuse, and
torture.
[Andolu]
Jamaat al-Muslimeen's expressions on the Pandemic via
National Shoora. January 19.
The purpose of the Shura was to share the various responses
to the worldwide pandemic by people in our immediate Jamaat
Al-Muslimeen circle, as well as in the broader communities
in which our members are active.
Jamaat al-Muslimeen, as an organization with a strong
emphasis on social justice, and a history of caring for the
downtrodden, ought not to be silent about the horrific
tragedy of death and sickness which has enveloped the
world.
The two hour discussion covered physical, relgious,
spiritual, mental, social and dietary aspects of Covid 19
along with its impact on prisons.
The keynote speaker , Dr. Firoz, has recovered from the most
severe and prolonged attack of Covid.
Nun In Kerala
Raped by Bishop 13 Times but Indian Judge Let off the Rapist
[BBC]
Letters of support have been pouring in for an Indian nun
after a bishop she had accused of repeatedly raping her was
cleared by a trial court last week.
For the past two days, my social media timeline has been
full of handwritten messages of support for the 50-year-old
nun who had accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of raping her 13
times between 2014 and 2016.
Most of the posts are from women, including activists,
feminists, journalists and celebrities in the southern state
of Kerala and many contain hashtags such as #withthenuns and
#avalkoppam - a Malayalam-language word which means "with her".
The letters pledge support to "the nun in her fight for
justice" - sometimes they just carry words of encouragement
or snatches of poetry, or contain drawings and artwork.
"In these dark times, you are that ray of hope to millions,"
one wrote quoting Emily Dickinson. Another quoted from Still
I Rise, Maya Angelou's poem that's become an anthem for
feminists across the world.
Many wrote in saying they "believed" her words even though
the trial court judge did not.
The accusations of rape against Bishop Franco have made
headlines in India. The case shocked one of the country's
oldest Christian communities and sparked widespread protests
after the nun alleged that the Catholic Church had ignored
her complaints.
A powerful priest, Bishop Franco was arrested only in 2018
after a group of nuns sat on a hunger strike outside the
Kerala high court. The Vatican temporarily relieved him of
his duties. A month later, he was freed on bail.
Over the years, the woman had been shamed on social media
and one local politician was chastised by the National
Commission for Women after he described her as a "prostitute".
Bishop Franco denied the charges against him and last Friday
a trial court in Kottayam city found him not guilty.
Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) G Gopakumar said there were
"exaggerations and embellishments in the statement of the
victim" and the prosecution had failed to prove the charges
against the bishop. He also spoke of rivalry in the church.
"When it is not feasible to separate truth from falsehood,
when grain and chaff are inextricably mixed up, the only
available course is to discard the evidence in toto. This
court is unable to place reliance on the testimony of the
nun... so I acquit the accused," he added.
