Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Ramadan 25, 1425/ November 9, 2004 #110
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ISLAM IN A NUTSHELL
"Actions Shall be judged according to Intentions."
[Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, first Hadith in Sahih of Bukhari, narrated by 'Umar, r.a.]

The most important aspect of Islam is TAQWA which has been translated as:

God-consciousness or Awareness of God or Fear of Allah

A major purpose of fasting and prayer is to develop this awareness {taqwa}.

Islam creates this awareness through THREE stages of development:
  1. Purity of Faith [Aqeeda]
  2. Good Actions ['Amal]
  3. Good motivation [niyyah]
The Muslim must have direct contact with God through prayers and supplications. No priesthood is needed.
The Muslim must be socially aware and SPEND of his/her wealth, time, intellect to help others and create a just and balanced community and society, hopefully leading on to a better world.

Why do we do what we do? Islam is very strong on this issue of MOTIVATION. We must learn to do good for the sake of acceptance by God, not for financial profit or ego. Hence GOOD DEEDS must be done without publicity.

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHOUT SELF-RESTRAINT. We must follow God's teachings in the way we live, the way we earn our living and even in the food we eat. INTOXICANTS and foods which harm the body are forbidden in the Qur'an.

When we eat, we must share.
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Editorial:
New Trend Urges All decent People to Speak out against the Crucifixion of Fallujah

FREEDOM, ISLAM, SELF-DETERMINATION Under U.S. ASSAULT in FALLUJAH
"ALLAHU AKBAR" Comes the Call from Mosques as 1500 Mujahids Face 15,000 U.S. Best troops

November 8: In one of the most shameful episodes in Bush's occupation of Iraq, 15,000 U.S. Marines and 4th Infantry Division, with units of Iraqi renegades, tried to punch their way into Fallujah with massive artillery and air support. On Day 1, the Americans captured about 4 blocks of Fallujah town starting with the hospital. There was an interesting reason for the capture of the hospital: It used to report the stream of civilian casualties, mostly women and children, American air attacks have caused in Fallujah. Nearly 100,000 civilians are still in the doomed city.
America's own best traditions do not allow for the brutalization of a small town in Iraq. Iraqis have no weaponry which would match America's vast arsenal. How can any decent American be proud of this shameful spectacle of the massing of an American legion against lightly armed militias sustained only by their faith and improvised explosive devices.
Language itself under the tyranny of George W. Bush has lapsed into Orwellian double speak when Iraqis defending their homes, their city, their mosques against heavily armed barbarians from America are dubbed "insurgents, " while Muslims who have come in from other countries to help their Iraqi family are labeled "terrorists" and "foreign fighters." In fact the only forces which are foreigners in Iraq are the Americans, the British and their European and Australian allies.
After all there are definitions of international behavior which the Bush Administration theoretically accepts. The U.S. has ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS BEING IN IRAQ. It does not have even the FIG LEAF of United Nations' support, its own creature which initiated "Israel."
Even the loyal Kofi Annan does not see U.S. military adventure in Iraq as legitimate.
FALLUJAH UNDER ISLAM is an excellent example of democracy. The people rose up and took Fallujah and drove out the American occupation forces. It's a peoples' city, organized street by street under peoples' rule, fighting for its independence and self-determination. The tragedy which the U.S. is imposing on the valiant people of Fallujah is no less than what Israel did in Jenin and Hafez Assad in Hamah. Bush and Blair must be the only two people in the world who believe that Allawi is the leader of Iraq! and is "permitting" them to attack Fallujah. Independent observers agree that Allawi is the scum of the earth, a dirty agent of the CIA who was so verminous that Saddam kicked him out of his secret service: Allawi then begged the CIA to use his service.
Ya Allah! What filthy curs Bush, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz have honored as "leaders" of Iraq": Traitors who come dime a dozen are presented as the "Iraqi government." George W. should not forget that more than 47 million Americans voted against him. He certainly does not have a mandate from Americans to continue his dastardly crimes in Iraq.
New Trend urges all decent people, in particular the Muslims of America and the Muslims of the world, to condemn in the clearest terms this assault by the American juggernaut on Fallujah.
The 1500 mujahideen in Fallujah are fighting back against 15,000 American elite troops.
These Iraqis seem determined to free themselves of American tyranny whatever the cost. There can be no doubt, as the Adhan ["Allah Akbar," "Allahu Akbar,"] lilts across the eerie battlefield, even as U.S. heavy artillery lashes out and the U.S. air force drops 500 pound bombs, that Iraq will be finally victorious and Iraq will be, finally, Islamic.
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FALLUJAH During RAMADAN 1425

[A poem by Ale Yasir]
O Muslims of America! Like you, we fast during the Day.
At Night we Watch your Shaitan's F-16s Light up the Horizons.
Our Mosques are packed with Young People
Their beards are still green
They want to live, to die, for Allah, for Iraq under Islam.
We hear the Adhan: It is Peaceful, Reminding us of Paradise 
We say to the Americans: Go back to your families.
This is not your land. Take Allawi with you. 
Don't we have the right to Fast, to Pray in Peace?
Do you, sons of Bush, know nothing sacred?
You bomb homes, hospitals, schools.
You desecrate mosques, burn the Qur'an, shred the Hadith of the blessed Messenger. 
Are you not Afraid that the Cries of the Oppressed will Rise up to Heaven?
You break into our homes and "body search" our Maidens who fast and pray!
Have you no Shame? Have you no God? 
You had to bomb us in Ramadan? You had to drown out our Adhan with Artillery? 

You will never win. 
Listen! we are Muslims, the followers of Muhammad (p).
You will never win.
Listen! we have the Qur'an.
You will never win.
Listen! we love Paradise. 
The Houris are Waiting for us. Shame and Hellfire is waiting for you. 
You will never win. We are the people of Fallujah!
We pray and fast in this blessed Ramadan. 

Your big guns speak, your rockets smash our homes.
Yet we pray and fast and WE FIGHT BACK.
Ramadan 1425: The month in which the tyrants drowned decency in blood. 
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LOCAL NEWS: New Trend report
White Supremacy/Islamophobia in Action

68 Year Old Egyptian Woman, Mrs. Afaf Saudi, Diabetic, Disabled, Handcuffed for "resisting arrest."

Greensboro, North Carolina: November 6. Sami Helmi's mother, Afaf, is 68 years old. Today she went shopping at Walmart and forgot her purse at the checkout counter. When she decided to buy a gift, she remembered her purse was at the counter. The Walmart lady at the counter handed back her purse. When she opened it, she found that instead of $170, only $20 were in it and $150 were missing. She complained to the Walmart employee and then to the manager [her English is not good]. They both laughed at her and joked together about her. She was in her Islamic dress, all wrapped her except her face. She kept asking for her money back. She wouldn't leave, and told them to call the police. The police officer, however, joined the Walmart employees in laughing at her. The police told her to leave. She said she wanted her money back. The police then ARRESTED HER for TRESPASSING on Walmart property! As she is disabled, the police had to take her away in a wheel chair. The Walmart employees helped the police to tie her to the wheel chair. Then the police put HANDCUFFS on the 68 year old and booked her for RESISTING ARREST. From the wheel chair, she was taken out and fell down because her feet were tied. Then she was stuffed by force into the police car. On the way, her diaberic condition started affecting her and she pleaded for water. She felt faint and begged them to take her to hospital, which they finally did. The hospital people were shocked to see her handcuffed and her arms were bleeding. She was examined by the doctor who found that her shoulder was broken and her rib damaged when she was stuffed into the police car. The police have given her three tickets, trespassing, resisting arrest and attacking police [because her shoes slid off when she was in the chair and touched the police]. Till November 8, she was still in hospital.
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For protests by human rights activists, read this press release.
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For Immediate Release, Nov 8, 2004
For more information call Scott Trent, 336-558-8066

or Badi Ali, 336-988-0818

The October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality and the Islamic Center of the Triad stand together in strongly condemning the vicious attack on Mrs. Afaf Saudi on Saturday, November 6th, 2004. There is no possible justification for the brute force that was used in the arrest of Mrs. Saudi that resulted in her multiple injuries, including a fractured arm and bruised ribs.

Mrs. Saudi, who is sixty-eight years old and in very poor physical health, was reportedly hog-tied and tossed like an animal into a police cruiser after having been violently detained by a Greensboro police officer at the Wal-Mart on Battleground Ave. We know that there is no possible justification for this type of treatment by the police. We are also aware that police brutality and killings have increased dramatically in recent years, and that since September 11th, 2001 a vicious new form of racial profiling has been put into effect against Arab, Muslim, and South Asian immigrants. We will not stand idly by as this epidemic of police brutality and expanded racial profiling spirals violently out of control.

The October 22nd Coalition and the Islamic Center of the Triad stand together in firm solidarity, and call on the entire community to speak out in condemnation of this brutal attack on Mrs. Saudi. We require at the very minimum an apology to Mrs. Saudi in Arabic or French (the two languages she speaks), and a clear statement on how the officers involved will be disciplined.
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2004-11-11 Thu 18:17ct