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Islamic
web site in the
U.S.]
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Phone: 410-435-5000.
Disclaimer: Views expressed are not necessarily
shared by editorial committee.
Responses (positive or negative) up to 250 words are welcome.
Names will be withheld on request.
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MALAYSIA and
INDONESIA
TAKE THE LEAD IN
CONDEMNING
U.S.
ACTION
While the puppet Arab rulers are shilly
shallying, Malaysia's leader
Mahathir Muhammad has reportedly come out openly
against the U.S. aggression
on
Iraq.
He gave the impression that the U.S. is
involved in terrorism and
that the next target (in coordination with the
Zionists)
will be
Masjid al-Aqsa
in Jerusalem.
Indonesia's Hamza Hezz, Deputy to the Prime
Minister Megawatti
Sukarnoputri, has condemned the U.S. aggression
and called for a meeting of
the General Assembly of the UN to stop the
assault.
PUTTING MANY YOUNG PEOPLE TO SHAME:
Hasan Radwan, an 89-year old
Egyptian
was on the
way to Iraq to join the
resistance when he was stopped by Egyptian
security.
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RADIO INTERVIEWS
On April 8, New Trend's representative BADI
ALI spoke on Morehead radio
near Greensboro in North Carolina. He said that
the U.S. is "liberating" the
Iraqis by killing them and destroying their
entire environment. He gave the
example of Abbas, an Iraqi boy, 12 years old, who
lost both his hands in a
U.S. air attack on Baghdad. Seven members of
Abbas's family were killed in
the attack.
BADI ALI described the destruction caused
by B-52 bombers. Each bomb
they drop kills everyone within an area of 120
meters, while those within 350
meters are seriously wounded. Only people who are
1000 meters away are safe.
Thus civilian losses on a huge scale are taking
place.
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On April 7, WASHINGTON DC's people oriented
radio station WPFW,
broadcast a brief speech
Dr. Kaukab Siddique
gave
in Freedom Square. The
program was organized by Br. Hodari Ali, a
prominent Muslim in the
African-American community. It was the first
anti-war exclusively Islamic
gathering and the credit goes to Br. Hodari Ali's
efforts. Dr. Siddique was
the last speaker at the gathering but got good
radio coverage. Some main
points:
1. He criticized pro-Iranian propaganda which
divides the Muslim community.
2. Iraq has not waged war against the U.S. but is
being forced to defend
itself against U.S. aggression.
3. Saddam Hussain has been transformed by the
conflict. His stand, defiant
and unafraid against a massive U.S.-British army
at his door, is a DEFINING
MOMENT in Muslim history.
4. Muslims must change themselves and stop their
old sectarian, group and
nationalistic tendencies.
5. Referring specifically to remarks by a
pro-Iran imam who spoke earlier, he
said that we must help people, including Muslims,
to understand that the
Muslim world does not look at Osama and the
Taliban as the sectarians and
Americans do. There is too big a gap between
these two views of the world.
6. The Muslim world is stirring to the call of
Islam, from Morocco to
Sudan,
from
Pakistan
to
Chechnia,
from
Nigeria
to
Somalia, for the
Qur'an
and the
Sunnah. America has made a big mistake by
listening to Zionist advisers.
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UNUSUAL ISLAMIC RALLY IN HARLEM, New York City
(by our rep. Sis. Aisha)
Today, I was at a Harlem rally against the war on
the Iraqi people.
Yesterday, Imam Taalib of the Mosque of the
Islamic Brotherhood urged us
Muslims to meet and where white kuufis and kimars
to draw attention to
ourselves and our message of peace.
We met at 9:30 am and proceeded to Marcus Garvey
Park to join the other
demonstrators. It was suggested that this silent
march to the park be used
for making dhikr and/or reciting Qur'an. We
marched with each line
containing three people. There were about 50 of
us. Even Yusuf Salaam, the
brother who was wrongfully and shamelessly
railroaded in the Central Park
Jogger Rape Case, marched! I was inspired by
that.
At Marcus Garvey Park we awaited the arrival of
the other marchers. Most of
them were dispersing socialist material and in
turn I and some other sisters
gave out Islamic literature. The crowd began to
swell and there were members
of the media there. An older sister who has been
protesting since the
Vietnam movement, advised us to refer any
requests for interviews to the Imam
and to turn away from photographers trying to
take our pictures. This
because the
media
tend to twist our words and use
photographs as a way to
identify you as a trouble maker.
As we marched from Marcus Garvey Park to the
Harlem State Office Building for
the rally. In all, I believe 250 to 300 people
marched three miles. There
were people who were crippled and who did the
best they could to complete the
walk! It took two hours to complete. We were
linked arm in arm with 10
people across.
We were chanting Islamic slogans such as "Allahu
Akbar" and "Laillah ha illah
Muhammaddur rasoolullah." A funny antiwar chant
was "Hey
Bush,
we know you.
Your daddy was a killer, too!"
There many onlookers on the sidewalks and out the
windows.
At the rally, there were a few speakers but, the
biggest shock for me was
when Congressman Rangel spoke. He stated that
he's been against the war
since the very beginning. He acknowledged Bush's
intent to bomb Iraq several
months before
9/11/2001.
If that was the case
then why did Rangel vote for
the patriot bill? Most of the crowd was very
supportive of his appearance,
Muslims included. However, the was a small crowd
of people yelling a
question at Rangel and he had to stop speaking
his rhetoric to request that
they stop. He finished speaking without ever
addressing this crowd's
question but, when the emcee came on she did.
She stated that although we are all here for a
common goal, we aren't all
going to agree with everything. She stated that
she, herself, was against
the draft. So I suspect that is what this crowd
was asking him. What is so
democratic about a draft? The emcee did not
chastise the people for
questioning Rangel but, seemed to encourage by
telling rally goers that it is
our right to voice our opinions. She was also
critical of the Harlem
"Empowerment" Zone - another Rangel project that
has helped skyrocket Harlem
rents and billion corporations, such as Disney,
squash mom and pop stores. I
will note that the house and the senate just
finished giving Bush another 80
billion Dollars, this past week, to continue the
war on the Iraqi people. I
wonder if he voted for that?
I have included the following links below to
government web sites. At these
web sites, you can find out the identity of your
local representative. I
implore everyone to start voicing how they feel
about their
misrepresentation:
http://www.senate.gov
http://www.house.gov
http://www.whitehouse.gov
(If you go
here there is a front page story on Bush's
meeting with Zunaib Al-Suwajj,
President of the American Islamic Congress. They
helped fight against Saddam
Hussain in 1991).
My disappointment with the march/rally was the
"no blood for oil" slogan.
Talking against
"Israel"
is still taboo even
among Muslims I am afraid. I
suspect that those who are with ANSWER and other
grassroots organizations
have zionists involved who want our focus to be
on oil just as long as it is
off their beloved "Israel" and its murderous
rampages. Support for "Israel"
can be stopped but what about oil? I don't see
people walking two miles to
work in protest against oil - greed. However, I
do see people
boycotting
McD's, Disney, and other companies for supporting
"Israel".
Insha'allah, I will help distribute information
about the horrors going on in
Occupied -
Palestine
to Muslims and other members
of the community.
Salaam,
Sis. 'Aisha
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"ARAB" IS NOT A RACE: Teachings from the
Hadith
(From Br. Eric Mueller, Texas)
as-Salam `alaykum!
I really enjoyed reading your comments on the
news for
day 19.
I would just like to supplement them.
First, there was a remark that Sudanese are
"sometimes
regarded as Arabs." As a matter of fact, Arabic
speaking Sudanes are ALWAYS regarded as Arabs.
As you
correctly observed, Arab is not a racial
category, but
a linguistic one. In fact there is a hadith
(that is
evidently weak but which Ibn Taymiya quoted) that
says
"Being an Arab for anyone of you does not come
from
your father or mother; it comes from the tongue.
Whoever speaks Arabic is an Arab." ("Laysat
al-`Arabiyya bi-ahadikum min ab wa-la umm,
wa-innama
hiya bi-l-lisan. Wa-man takallam al-`Arabiyya
fa-huwa
`Arabi.")
There is also a hadith in which our Prophet
(PBUH) is
quoted as saying of Salman al-Farsi "Salman is
one of
us, as ahl al-bayt" ("Salman minna, ahl
al-bayt"),
that is, despite his Persian origins, he had
aquired
the Arabic language and become one of the Arab
family.
And interestingly, one of the most prominent
theoreticians of ssecular Arab Nationalism was
Abu
Khaldoun Sati` al-Husry (1881-1968) who was born
in
Ottoman
Syria.
He stressed that Arab nationality
was
based on common language, not race. And although
he
was perhaps the most famous writer on Arab
Nationalism, he was personally of Turkish family
background, and accounts say that all his life he
spoke Arabic with a Turkish accent (though I can
say
from reading many of his works that he wrote a
very
clear, lucid Arabic.)
So our Arabic-speaking Sudanese brothers are not
"sometimes regarded as Arabs" they ARE Arabs
without
any doubt.
Now as to the news of yesterday, 7 April, of
course we
all have to rely on what reports are available.
According to Russian intelligence reports on the
internet, the US forces did not remain in control
of
the presidential palaces over the night from 7 to
8
April. All the US forces retreated back to their
early morning positions by 5:00pm Baghdad time on
Monday 7 April. So claims that they controlled
those
sites are apparently false.
There is one main website that offers an English
translation of a Russian intelligence news
bulletin
almost every day. I say "almost" because the
site has
become rather slow and negligent about updates
now
that we really need them, for some reason.
So the first part of their report for 7 April
could be
found on an alternative site (some anarchist
group) at
this URL:
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/04/07/2015127
But Venik's site:
http://www.aeronautics.ru
hasn't been updated since the 6th of April, as of
now,
morning of 8 April!
Well, so I've translated some highlights of the
second
part of the bulletin for 7 April 2003 from the
Russian
version at
www.iraqwar.ru.
wa-s-salam,
Eric Mueller
Texas
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2003-04-09 Wed 18:57ct