[Biggest
Islamic
web site in the
U.S.]
P.O. Box 356, Kingsville, MD 21087.
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.
--------------------------------------------
July 15, 2003
Mr. Hugo Smith
Warden
Georgia State Prison
100 Georgia Highway, # 147
Reidsville, GA 30499-9701
Dear Warden Smith:
Your prison is in serious constitutional
violation of civil rights and civil
liberties regarding Imam Jamil Abdullah al-Amin.
He is locked down 23/7 under
constant camera surveillance in the same manner
that is reserved for death
row inmates. Since he did not receive the death
penalty as initially sought by
the state, it is cruel and unfair to lock him
down in this manner out of
resentment. What evidence can you supply that
Imam Jamil Al-Amin's life would be
in danger if he is allowed to join the regular
prison population? Why have
you taken away his right to pray in congregation?
Solitary confinement will not destroy the spirit
or person of Imam Jamil
Abdullah Al-Amin. Allah will never allow you to
break this man as much as you
would like to. His legacy of who he is, his
ability to support and work for the
oppressed and what he has accomplished throughout
commmunities in America will
forever prevail. Instead of locking him away
from others, you and the
entire prison population can learn much good from
this man of Islam. Perhaps this
is what you are really afraid of while you hide
behind bogus claims of
protecting his life.
We in the community and around the world will
continue to vigorously and
closely monitor, watch and listen to all that
happens with Imam Jamil Abdullah
Al-Amin while in your prison. We will not cease
looking after his well being
while he is in your prison. I request to know
the reasoning behind his
condition of confinement. I request that you
allow him to exercise his religious
rights under the law. I request that you cease
the intimidation and harrassment
of him by your prison guards while in your
prison. I request that he is
released from 23/7 shackeled lock down while in
your prison.
I anxiously await your response to my inquiries
about the civil violations
and cruel treatment of Imam Jamil Al-Amin under
your authority while in your
prison. I can be reached at the address or
email below.
Thank you,
Sister Motisola Malikha Abdallah
motisola_3@hotmail.com
cc: Political Prisoner Imam Jamil Abdullah
al-Amin
Attorney General John Ashcroft Department of
Justice
Worldwide Support Committee for Imam Jamil
Al-Amin
The Atlanta Majalis Ashura Board
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New Trend's "offices" will remain closed from
July 15-20. We will
re-appear,inshallah,on July 21.
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EXPLOITATION OF
WOMEN
IN
AMERICA
SALES OF PORNOGRAPHY in AMERICA NOW STAND AT
$50 BILLION. Of this, sales
of hard core adult pornography are about $30
billion. [Source:
CNN
July 14,
2003]
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BOOK RECEIVED
[This book is in the Urdu language.]
MUSHAHIDAAT. Maulana Maudoodi (r.a), Jamaate
Islami awr Pakistan by Mian
Tifail Muhammad, 608 pages, interviews organized
by Saleem Mansoor Khalid,
published by Idara Maaref-e-Islami, Lahore.
Highly informative, must reading for those
interested in
Pakistan's
Islamic
movement. Very frank, honest and moving, whether
one agrees with it or
disagrees. 250 Rupees.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C-Span-2
Attacks Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), his
Family, the
Qur'an,
the
Hadith
Thinly Veiled Abuse Under Guise Of Book Review: A
follow up on Rushdie's
Satanic Verses
Mediocre Writer Given National Coverage Twice
Dear Producer of C-Span-2
booktv@c-span.org
On July 13, 2003 you presented an hour and a
half long coverage of a man
who calls himself Ibn Warraq who spoke about his
book LEAVING ISLAM:
APOSTATES SPEAK OUT. C-Span gave so much
importance to this man and his book that the
original airing on June 24 was not considered
enough and the coverage was
repeated on July 13.
There were about 12 people in the audience
and it would have been a
non-event if it had not been raised to the
national level by C-Span's coverage.
The presenter was disorganized, the book
was mediocre and the audience
was so hate-filled and one sided that not even
one critical question was asked.
I cannot believe that Mr. Lamb or whoever
wanted this attack on Islam to
go through was not aware of the MEDIOCRE quality
of Ibn Warraq's book. It was
like a presentation of PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF
ZION to an audience of
Nazis.
C-Span must apologize to the Muslims of
America or at least permit a
response to the book. I am writing a review of
the coverage of this hate-filled
book. I urge you to air this response to dispel
the impression that you have
deliberately permitted an abusive and slanderous
attack on Prophet Muhammad
(peace be on him), his family, the Qur'an and
the Hadith.
---------------------------------------------------------
REVIEW
Ibn Warraq is not the real name of the
author. Salman Rushdie at least
had the honesty to use his real name. The
presenter seemed to be wearing a wig
and large dark glasses. This kind of drama
indicates that the writer is not
willing to take responsibility. I doubt if C-Span
would EVER ALLOW SUCH AN
ANONYMOUS ATTACK ON
JEWS
or
ISRAEL.
The program was introduced by Hillel Stavis,
the President of Wordsworth
Books who proudly proclaimed that he had also
supported Salman Rushdie. Hence
we have a clear indication that Jewish
Zionism
was at work here, as is also
evident from the name "Hillel."
When it came to Ibn Warraq's reading from
his book about "apostates"
from Islam, it soon became obvious that he is
using victims of political
upheavals in the Muslim world to make claims
against Islam. He would bring an example
and then attach fabricated statistics to it to
condemn an entire Muslim
country. Here are his three examples:
1. Abul Qasim is a Bengali, Ibn Warraq
claims, who doubted Islam owing to
the carnage in East Pakistan. Here Ibn Warraq
claimed that three million
Bengalis died owing to the Pakistani army's
attempt to suppress the Bengalis. This
figure as concocted by the Indian media and is
not based on any independent
investigation. Ibn Warraq then used the story of
Abul Qasim to make these
claims:
i. The Qur'an is a "narcissistic monologue."
ii. The Hadith are "disgusting."
iii. The Qur'an teaches murder, loot and
rape.
iv. The Qur'an is "dangerous" and
"disgusting."
v. Islam is "uncivilized."
[Obviously this is hate propaganda,
emanating from the worldwide Zionist
war on Islam.]
2. Then Ibn Warraq talked about two
Iranian
women
who have left Islam. It
soon became apparent that the examples he had
chosen were MKO (Mujahidine Khalq)
rebels. He did not provide any context which
would let viewers know that the
MKO were alienated youths who were borderline
Muslims. They rose up in arms
against the duly elected and legitimate Islamic
Republic of Iran which had the
support of Iran's masses. They tried to snatch
from Iranians the fruits of their
victory against the Shah. In the process they
killed thousands of Islamic
Iranians. They were crushed by the Islamic power
of Iran. Several thousand of
them were imprisoned and put through a process of
Islamic education because they
were naive young people who had grown up on
shallow and meaningless slogans.
Ibn Warraq used two MKO women to make claims
against the Islamic
Republic which are the products of MKO's hate
propaganda. For instance, he claimed
that:
i. More than 100,000 MKO were executed by
Iran. [I doubt if the MKO had a
total force of 100,000.] It's an unverifiable
statistic produced by a group
at war with Iran.
ii. Iran had produced an "Islamic Auschwitz."
[This was probably meant to
affect the people supporting Ibn Warraq. I have
visited the prisons where MKO
prisoners were kept and there is absolutely no
comparison with the legend of
Nazi concentration camps.]
iii. Iranians used to pray before raping the
women prisoners in their
control. [This kind of low down and dirty
propaganda has been put out in big doses
by the MKO. There is no verification or
substantiation of such abuses by any
kind of inquiry.]
3. Ibn Warraq talked about a Tunisian woman
who has left Islam. Again he
did not provide context: Tunisia is a secular
dictatorship in which military
force, including tanks, were used to crush
Islamic demonstrators.
Amnesty International
and other human rights groups have
documented the Tunisian regime's
use of arbitrary, open ended, arrests and torture
against Islamic dissidents.
Ibn Warraq's story would have taken on a
different color if he had been
honest about context. He claimed that Samia
Labidi left Islam because:
i. Her family members started embracing
"fundamentalist" Islam.
ii. As they became more Islamic, they opposed
bikinis and visits to the
beach.
iii. Her relatives started opposing
miniskirts.
iv. Her brother became a "terrorist." [In
other words, he became an
Islamic fighter
against State terrorism.]
v. She was shocked that there was a "political
Islam" of which she had
been unaware.
Hence she left Islam and started a web site to
preach the virtues of
secularism
----------------------------------------
During the question/answer session, Ibn
Warraq came out clearly as a
mediocre but determined propagandist against
Islam. His book, he pointed out, has
a list of 120 Internet sites against Islam.
Obviously he is endorsing
everything available against Islam regardless of
how cheap or dirty it is in its
content.
He seemed to be on some kind of a crusade and
presented possibilities of
weaning away non-Arab populations from Islam. He
then went on to insult the
Prophet (peace be on his family). For instance:
1. He claimed that the Treaty of Hudaybia
shows that the Prophet (pbuh)
taught that treaties can be broken whenever it is
convenient for Muslims to do
so.
2. He started insulting ‘Ayesha (Allah be
pleased with her) by
presenting her marriage to the Prophet (peace be
on him) at a very young age as if that
was an outrage. He conveniently forgot to mention
that:
i. ‘Ayesha (Allah be pleased with her)
turned out to be the greatest
woman scholar and leader of Islam after the
Prophet passed away, so much so that
even leading companions of Muhammad (pbuh) used
to get religious rulings and
advice from her.
ii. Under the Qur'an (chapter 33 verse 28),
she was given an opportunity
to annul her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh) when
she became an adult. She not
only refused to leave the Prophet (pbuh), she
became his friend and companion
in all his struggle, so much so that when he was
dying, he preferred to die in
her lap.
In Islam apostasy is punishable in times of
war when enemy agents
pretend to be Muslims, enter Muslim ranks, find
out all they want about Muslims,
and then declare that they have given up Islam
(in an attempt to discredit the
religion). Again Ibn Warraq did not provide that
information which would have
ruined his thesis. It's treachery which is
punished because where religion is
the state, apostasy becomes an act of treachery.
Ibn Warraq had picked up tit bits from all
over the Muslim world to make
his stories more juicy. He even tried to support
the claim by a person named
Anwar Shaikh who claims that Muslims praying
towards
Makka
is a sign of Arab
expansionism.
Mr. Lamb (or whoever is the producer of
book shows on C-Span), you have
revealed your barely hidden hostility towards
Islam by allowing this repeat
performance of Ibn Warraq's collection of trash.
I dare you to give equal time
to me to straighten out Ibn Warraq. [Has C-Span,
in spite of its profession of
openness, EVER permitted coverage to an Islamic
scholar who is not in awe of
or is not part of the American power structure?]
Sincerely
Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
[Readers interested in what the Qur'an and Hadith
really say about the rights
of women should look up two of my books:
THE STRUGGLE of MUSLIM WOMEN
and
LIBERATION OF WOMEN THRU ISLAM
available thru
amazon.com]
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2003-07-16 Wed 17:44ct