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Safar 17, 1426/March 28, 2005 #26
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THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
Even when the
Israelis
themselves admit the terrible crimes they are committing,
U.S.
TV outlets are too scared to report them.
"Between 3,000 and 5,000 women have been
smuggled into Israel and sold into prostitution over the
past four years, according to a Knesset committee investigative
report examining the status of the sex trade in Israel."
[Source: Haaretz, Israeli publication.]
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CHRISTIANITY on THE RETREAT:
[New Trend's
Media Monitor]
Late on Saturday night, March 26, just before Easter Sunday,
CNN showed a lengthy production on Jesus [pbuh] based on
apocryphal stories of his "possible relationship" with Mary Magdalene.
Repeatedly CNN showed nude paintings [frontal nudity]
of the woman Jesus [pbuh] saved.
If Christians can accept this kind of things even about Jesus,
no wonder their entire system is easily manipulated by the
Zionists.
Nothing is sacred for this culture. It will be the task of
Muslims to defend the honor of Jesus [pbuh].
---------------------------------------------------
Saudis Are the Problem, not the Solution.
We Reject and Condemn Death Threats against Dr. Amina Wadud
by
Kaukab Siddique
It's been brought to my attention that some Saudi religious figures
have issued a Fatwa against Dr. Amina Abdul Wadud. It implies a
death threat. Specific names of Saudi and Saudi-related religious
figures are listed in the Fatwa.
Saudis should be the last to issue Fatwas. They are sitting on a
lot of Haram [activities prohibited under Islamic Law.]. Their
activities have made the lives of Muslim
women
difficult. Owing to their crass and ignorant view of
Islam,
Muslim women living in America have suffered, particularly those
women who want to take part in Islamic work.
My dear departed friend Abdul Sattar al-Dahir pointed out the
following to me during an ISNA convention. Br. Abdul Sattar said:
"Look at these Saudis: They are claiming that the Hijab of some
sisters is not complete. A few of their hair are showing, while
the same Saudis are supporting the U.S. sanctions and moves against
Iraq
which have left more than
half a million Iraqi children dead of a slow death."
Look at what the Saudi religious figures are sitting on.
They are silent about these:
-
Kingship and hereditary monarchy is HARAM in Islam. Only Khilafat
is permitted.
-
The Saudi oil money is in Chase Manhattan and other American banks.
Thus the wealth of the Ummah has been frittered away.
-
The Saudis are getting interest from American banks, though interest
is strictly HARAM in Islam.
-
The Saudis were silent about the bombing of
Afghanistan.
-
The Saudis [religious figures and rulers, both] supported the first
Gulf War, hosted, fed and paid U.S. troops and sent their own troops
to fight along with the Americans. This activity, helping the
kuffar against a Muslim nation, is strictly forbidden in Islam
and amounts to kufr.
-
The Saudi rulers supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Saudi
religious figures did not speak against the Saudi rulers.
-
The Saudi rulers quietly allowed Saudi bases to be used against Iraq
in 2003 but claimed that they had not allowed it. It took a long time,
almost a year, for the news to come out that the U.S. had used
Iraqi bases. The religious scholars did not speak out.
-
The Saudi rulers have offered recognition to Israel.
The Saudi religious figures have not condemned the move.
-
The Saudis supported and funded the Maronites, Sharon's friends,
during the
Lebanon
civil war. These Maronites are involved in the massacres of
Palestinians.
-
Prince Bandar has been cavorting with President
Bush,
very personal relationship here, seen on U.S. TV, without any
protest or Fatwa from Saudi religious figures.
I urge the Saudis to back off.
They have done serious harm to the cause of Islam.
Their views on women are a disgrace to Islam and to humanity.
They have denied to Muslim women the
rights
which Allah and His messenger [pbuh] have given them.
Their satanic activities must now stop.
Do not try to target a Muslim woman in the hope that she is defenseless.
Go stand against the Zionist
Jews,
if you dare.
==================================
OPEN
LETTER
Talking Directly to Dr. Amina Abdul Wadud.
Both Form and Content are Important in Islam:
Breaking Tradition does not Bring Liberation
Asalamu alaikum dear sister:
I saw your photo in the New York Times.
I noticed that you were wearing full hijab.
Evidently you accept one of the formal aspects of Islam.
You did not think it proper to pray in an informal western dress.
Also, I noticed that you were praying in a specific direction,
the qibla of Islam.
I haven't heard the audio, but I am told that you did make two rakats
for juma'. You did not pray three of four rakats. Again you accepted
the FORMS designated by Islam.
And if I am not mistaken, you prayed in Arabic, not English.
Thus you do know that FORMS, the way something is done, are as
important as what is done. Even the few people who were there
would not have been there if you had been in a condition of
semi-dress, praying in any direction you wished, making as many
rakats as you wanted and praying in English.
You are under the illusion that if you stand in FRONT of men and
women to lead them in prayer, you will liberate women and give them
their rights. The fact is that you can be manipulated by men
[and women working for the kuffar] even when you are standing in
front of them. Look at the churches in America. Many of them have
female pastors but has that helped America? Even the basic
family structure is breaking down here. There are African-American
female pastors aplenty. But where are the African-American men?
Increasingly in prison.
In Afghanistan, the Americans claimed they had liberated the country.
Afghan women living in America, who look more like Parisians than
Afghans, were brought back by the U.S. all the way to Kabul to
"liberate" Afghan women. The move failed. It was seen as the
grossest possible insult by Afghan women.
Three and a half years later, Afghan women cling to the Burqa and
are increasingly sending their sons to fight the Jihad against
America. Karzai is only the ruler of Kabul.
I urge you to return to the Ummah. I know we have many problems.
This Ummah is full of racial, national and gender chauvinism, but
this is the only Ummah we have.
You might remember when I published my book The Struggle of Muslim
Women in 1980, it was boycotted by both ISNA and
ICNA
who controlled most Muslims in America.
My book was supported on almost every page by direct quotes from the
Qur'an
and the authentic
Hadith
but the Saudi funded organizations would have none of it. They did
not mention it, ever, even negatively in their publications.
Alhamdulillah the book went through FOUR EDITIONS and has also been
translated into Bangla and Indonesian languages. Just about every
activist Islamic woman in America read it. It was then followed
by my second book on the same theme titled
LIBERATION OF WOMEN THRU ISLAM.
Within ten years after my first book, just about all the mosques in
America opened their doors to Muslim women. Increasingly Muslim
women are on the Boards and organizational aspects of the mosques.
ISNA and ICNA are now just two groups among many other Muslim
groups in America. They still hold conventions but people go
there simply to socialize, not to accept the leadership of these
funded groups.
The point I am making is that change must come from WITHIN the Ummah,
not through slapping the Ummah in the face. We have to CHANGE
PEOPLE's THINKING and not start changing Islam according to our wishes.
I urge you to come back. You are a very valuable part of this Ummah.
Do not fall into the Zionist trap. Come back and speak against
ALL OPPRESSION, including the oppression of women. Liberate the
Muslim men so that they may in turn take women as their partners
in struggle rather than as their inferiors.
Your current friends, the supporters of Bush's agenda for a
"moderate Islam," are not opposing the holding of numerous
innocent Muslims in U.S. prisons. You should meet the families
of these prisoners and speak against the imprisonment of their men.
Iraq is burning. Falluja has been destroyed. Earlier, hundreds of
Afghan villages were pulverized by the "heroic" U.S. air force.
The women of Iraq and Afghanistan are crying out for deliverance.
You need to help liberate them from U.S. occupation.
Above all, your Zionist friends, who gave you instant fame in the
New York Times, the flagship of the Zionist establishment, have
occupied Palestine and torn it asunder. Your leadership is needed
to take Israel to task for genocide against the Palestinian people.
I pray to Allah that you will take my appeal seriously. You know
how easily America produces fads, fashions and cults only to forget
them completely as time goes on. If you do not return to the Ummah,
within a few years, although you might establish an "Islamic Church
of America," you will be merely a bad memory in the consciousness
of the Muslim world.
Sincerely
Kaukab Siddique
Ameer
Jamaat al-Muslimeen
------------------------------------------
The woman behind Dr. Amina Wadud?
Asra Nomani writes about Herself: Wall Street Journal, Tantric Sex,
Daniel Pearl, Impregnated by
Pakistani
Boyfriend, Mixed gender prayer at Brandeis University
[Research by New Trend staff.]
In view of the rumors floating around on the Internet about Asra Nomani,
the woman who helped organize the mixed gender prayer in New York,
a New Trend supporter did some research and came up with this
information. Our rule was that only the info Asra Nomani herself
provides should be used.
Ms. Nomani has publicized herself quite heavily and she has
received support from American circles. One of her interviews
titled "Crossing Boundaries to Sexual Freedom" is posted on
"beliefnet," a site which gives space to Muslims who speak
against Islam. The interview is by Deborah Caldwell. Ms. Nomani
also spoke to "Salon" and to Brandeis University news.
These are the basic facts Asra Nomani provides about herself :
-
She is originally from India and considers India as part of herself.
-
She is an editor for the Wall Street Journal.
-
She was assigned to research "tantric sex" and found that Hindu spiritualism and Islam overlap.
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At 19 she fell in love with an American green beret.
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In 1998 another of her boyfriends was a "technical virgin" who
apparently refused to "consummate" his relationship with her. She
says "it was torture."
-
She was very close to Daniel Pearl ["Danny"], the famous
Israeli-American who was brutally murdered in Pakistan. They met
after her divorce from a "traditional Muslim man." Danny liberated her.
-
When "Danny" visited Pakistan, Asra went with him. She stayed with
him at the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi, and then stayed on for
three weeks after his disappearance in the frantic hope that he
would be found.
-
While there with Danny, she fell in love with a Pakistani, had
unprotected sex and became pregnant. The Pakistani abandoned her
probably owing to fear of being connected to Daniel Pearl.
-
On her return she stayed with Pearl's wife, Marianne, in Paris.
Nomani came back to the U.S. when she found that her family was
very supportive of her. They told her not to be ashamed of having
a child out of wedlock. They had "transcended all of their own
cultural and religious boundaries."
-
In West Virginia, she found that the small mosque did not have a
proper place for women. She decided to sit in the main prayer area
and started a movement to open up the mosques for women.
-
She was well received in America and helped to organize the mixed
gender prayer in New York lead by Dr. Amina Wadud.
-
On March 23, Asra Nomani came to Brandeis University and held a
mixed gender prayer there, reported on by the university paper
which described her efforts as "the search for truth." Her trip
was sponsored by the Brandeis society for "Investigative Journalism."
----------------------------------------------------
Chess Icon Bobby Fischer Speaks Openly Against Bush & Israel
[Courtesy
Associated Press]
Sitting in the first-class cabin whisking him away from nine months
detention in Japan, chess icon Bobby Fischer launched a rambling
diatribe against the United States, calling it "an illegitimate country"
that should be given back to the American Indians.
The reclusive Fischer — who is taking up residence in Iceland to
avoid arrest in the United States — also unleashed his anger at
Israel and likened President Bush (news - web sites) to a comic
book character.
Fischer said he was "kidnapped" in Japan, and that Bush and
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi were in cahoots trying
to deprive him of freedom and return him to the United States,
where he is wanted on criminal charges.
"Bush does not respect law," Fischer said in an interview with
Associated Press Television News on board the SAS flight to
Copenhagen, Denmark, where he had a stopover before being flown
to Iceland, which this week granted him citizenship.
"It's like in the comics, like Billy Batson used to say 'Shazam!'
and he becomes Captain Marvel. He (Bush) just says 'Enemy Combatant!
Now you have no legal rights.' It's a farce," he said. "This is
absolutely cooked up between Bush and Koizumi."
Fischer, wide-eyed and bushy-bearded after his months in detention,
paused frequently to collect his thoughts. Wisps of hair were
matted against his temples, and he once gulped deeply from a
glass of milky liqueur before explaining why he felt his detention
in Japan for using an invalid U.S. passport was illegal.
The eccentric chess genius was unusually expansive on the flight,
unleashing his anger against two of his favorite targets: The U.S.
government and Israel. He disclosed a world view that has him as
the underdog besieged by a bullying America.
"The United States is an illegitimate country ... just like the
bandit state of Israel — the Jews have no right to be there, it
belongs to the Palestinians," said Fischer, whose mother was Jewish.
"That country, the United States, belongs to the red man, the
American Indian. ... It's actually a shame to be a so-called
American because everybody living there is ... an invader."
He traced the origins of his troubled relationship with his
homeland to his failed lawsuit in the 1970s against Time Inc.,
now Time-Warner, for defamation of character, breach of contract
and other issues; a U.S. District Court threw it out as groundless.
"I got laughed out of court," he said. "This is when I began to
realize what kind of a country America was then ... it's just a
sham democracy. ... That's when I started to part company with the U.S."
Late Thursday, Fischer arrived in Iceland to accept an offer of
citizenship from the country still grateful for its role as the
site of his most famous match. In 1972 Fisher won his world
championship victory over Russian Boris Spassky in the Cold War
chess showdown that propelled Fischer to international stardom.
Fischer, 62, is wanted by the United States for violating
sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia by playing an exhibition
match there against Spassky in 1992.
He was detained by Japanese officials last July for using an
invalid U.S. passport. Fischer claims the travel document was
revoked illegally, and sued to block a deportation order to the
United States.
Iceland's Parliament stepped in this week to break the standoff by
giving Fischer citizenship. But Fischer is by no means in the clear,
as Iceland, like Japan, has an extradition treaty with the United States.
Fischer denied he had been carrying an invalid passport in Japan
and called Koizumi "a stooge."
"It's just my misfortune that this criminal idiot Koizumi ... (is)
willing to do anything Bush tells him," said Fischer.
Asked whether he thought he might find U.S. authorities more tolerant
of him if he toned down his rhetoric, Fischer said he was too old
to change.
"I grew up with the concept of freedom of speech. I'm too old.
It's too late for me to adjust to the new world, the new world order,"
he said with a chuckle.
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