Islam Is Fitrah

Levels Of The People in the Hereafter

2011-08-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

Taken from ‘The Abridgment of the Levels Of The People in the Hereafter’ By Ibnul Qayyim Rahimuhullah

So these are the levels of the people, and their ranks in the Abode of the Hereafter, as mentioned by Ibnul Qayyim rahimuhullah, and they are eighteen in number.

The highest level is that of the Messengers, may Allah extol and grant them perfect peace and security: and they are of three levels, the highest of them being:

1) ‘Those firmest in resolve’ (Oolul-’Azm): Nooh, Ibraheem, Moosa, ‘Eesa and Muhammad, may Allah extoll and grant them perfect peace and security ameen, then;

2) Those besides them from the Messengers (Rusul) then;

3) The Prophets (al-Anbiyaa), those who were not sent as Messengers their nations;and then;

4) The truest and sincerest followers of the Messengers (as-Siddeeqoon)- the inheritors of the Messenges, those who established what the Messengers had been sent with, in their knowledge, actions and in calling to Allaah, then;

5) The just Emaams and Rulers, then;

6) Those who strove and fought Jihaad in Allaah’s cause, with their wealth and their persons, then;

7) Those who preferred others over themselves, treated the people with goodness and performed charitable acts, then;

8 ) Those for whom Allaah opened a door to performance of good which was restricted to themselves such as Prayer, Charity, Fasting, Hajj and so on, then;

9) The level of the people of salvation, and they were those who carried out Allaah’s obligations and avoided that which He prohibited, then;

10) The level of a people who wronged themselves and commited major sins forbidden by Allaah; however Allaah granted them sincere repentance before death. So they died upon sincere repentance, so Allaah accepted their repentance, then;

11) The level of a people who combined righteous deeds and evil deeds, meeting Allaah whilst persisting upon their sins and not repentant. However their good deeds outweighed their evil deeds: the balance of the good they did being heavier. So they are also saved and successful, then;

12) A people whose good and evil deeds were equal, and they are the companions of the Heights (al-A’raaf)-which is a place between the Paradise and the Hellfire; and they will eventually enter Paradise, then;

13) The level of those who were afflicted and put to tahaadeeth trial-we ask Allaah for well being and security, and they were Muslims whose scales were light: their evil deeds outweighed their good deeds. There are ahaadeeth concerning them showing that they will enter the Fire and will be in it in accordance with their deeds; and then they will come out of it through the intercession of those who intercede and the Mercy of the Most Merciful of those who show mercy, then;

14) A people who had no acts of obedience or disobedience, nor Unbelief, nor true Faith (Eemaan), and they are of different types; from them are those who the true call did not reach; and from them is the insane person who did not possess intellect; and from them is the deaf person who never heard anything; and from them are the children of the Mushriks who died before being able to correctly discern anything. So the scholars differ concerning them, having eight positions. The most correct of these is that they will be tested on the Day of Ressurrection, and a Messenger will be sent to them there: whoever obeys him will enter Paradise and whoever disobeys him will enter Hellfire. Because Allaah does not punish anyone until the Proof is established upon him and he then turns away from it and obstinately refuses it, just as He, the Most High said:

“And We do not punish until We send a Messenger.” (Surah al-Israa 17:15)

15) The level of the Hypocrites (al-Munafiqoon) who outwardly displayed Islaam but inwardly concealed Unbelief (Kufr), and they are in the lowest depth of the Fire, then;

16) The heads of Unbelief (Kufr), its leaders and its callers, then;

17) The level of those Unbelievers who were blind-followers and ignorant ones, and the Ummah are agreed that they are Unbelievers, and lastly;

18) The level of Jinn, and they were bound with duties-liable to reward of punishment in accordance with their deeds, just as Allaah, the Most High, said:

“And for all there will be degrees in accordance with what they did, so that He may fully recompense them for their deeds, and they will not be wronged.” (Surah-Ahqaaf 46:19)

JUDGING IMAAN AND KUFR BY WHAT IS APPARENT

2011-08-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

JUDGING IMAAN AND KUFR BY WHAT IS APPARENT

How do we judge if someone is kaafir? Can we judge someone's heart, to see if he is kaafir? Is that possible? If we look to the example of someone who comes and says Assalamu 'Alaikum to us, we would undoubtedly say that he is Muslim. Do we need to check his heart? No, we know his Islam from his sayings and his actions. We do not need to check his heart, so why if someone's sayings and actions are kufr, should we need to check his heart? Rather when we see someone who is clearly in kufr and Shirk, or we see people competing with Allah (swt), i.e. that they are Taghout, there is no need for us to check his heart, we must make Takfeer on him - that is the Haq of Allah (swt). We have a principle in Islam, that:

"We consider only the apparent in regards to Imaan and kufr, we do not consider that which is concealed."

Usama bin Zaid was sent in an expedition, he spoke about one man in the battlefield, he said:"… I saw one of them, he said "laa ilaaha illallah". I stabbed him, and after that I felt bad and so told Muhammad (saw) what I did. The Prophet (saw) asked: "did he say laa ilaha illallah, and you killed him?" I said: "He said it, but only out of fear for my sword." He (saw) asked "did you check his heart to see if he believed it?" he kept on repeating that question until I wished that I was not Muslim yet until that day." [Muslim V-2 P-107]

Imam Nawawi repeated another narration where the prophet (saw) continued, "(the Prophet (saw) said) …did you kill him?" I said: "yes" he said "what will you do about that laa ilaha illallah if it comes to you on the day of judgement?" I asked "ask forgiveness for me o Rasulullah." and every time he saw me after that he (saw) would ask me "what will you do if laa ilaaha illallah comes to you on the day of judgement?""

Usama bin Zaid was dispraised by Muhammad (saw) strongly because he judged someone's intention i.e. what is inside his heart, though his APPARENT i.e. his sayings and actions was showing Islam.

Furthermore, Al Mikhdaad ibn Aswad asked:"If I found someone who came to me and he fought me, and he cut off my hand, then he went to a tree and I overpower him, and he said 'laa ilaaha illallah,' shouldn't I kill him?" the Prophet (saw) said: "do not kill him, if you kill him, he will take your place, before you killed him. And you will become in his position before you came to fight him." [Sharh Muslim - V-2 P -106]

It is agreed that anyone who says laa ilaaha illallah even in the battlefield, we cannot fight him. Imam Nawawi said: "Imam Shafi'I and Imam Maalik said, the hadith means, "his life has sanctity after he says "laa ilaaha illallah" the way your situation before you killed him, and your life after you have killed him, has no sanctity the way he was before he testified that there is no god but Allah."

This is because what is apparent from him is Islam, not kufr - so we cannot dig into his heart, to see if he is lying or telling the truth. Instead we must judge according to his sayings and his actions. In the same way on someones kufr, if they are committing clear cut kufr or Shirk like the rulers who rule by kufr law and ally with the kuffar against Muslims, we do not dig to what is in their hearts, we do not say that maybe in their hearts is Imaan - we judge them to be apostates.

Abu Sa'eed Al Khidree narrated:"A man came to Muhammad (saw), with squinted eyes, with large jaws, with a big forehead and a huge beard, a completely shaven head, with a very high izaar, and he shouted at the Prophet (saw) "Fear Allah!" and he (saw) replied: "dare you, am I not the most god fearing man? Allah trusts me from the seventh heaven, and you do not trust me?" Khalid bin Waleed was there at that time, he said "shouldn't I strike his neck?" he (saw) said, "No, because he prays." Khalid said: "how many pray on their tongue, what is not in their heart?" the Prophet (saw) said: "Allah did not order me to open their chest to judge on what is in the heart. From this man will be descendants who recite Qur'an so beautifully, but it will not reach their throat, they will leave the deen like the arrow from the bow, and if I meet them, I will kill them like the people of Thamud were killed." [Muslim]

This man was Dhul Khuwaisirah Al Tamimie, The Prophet (saw) knows that he is khawaarij, and that from his children will be khawaarij, and that he conceals kufr, but he judged his imaan on his sayings and his actions, not from what was in his heart. Imam Ali killed thousands from the khawaarij, but only after they made takfeer upon and killed one sahabi - Abdullah ibn Khabbab. He did not judge their hearts, rather he judged them when they committed actions and made takfeer on them when they did, despite that they do believe and testify that "laa ilaaha illallah".

Khalid bin Waleed learnt from this that he should not judge someone by intention, but rather by his actions. This helped him in the time of Musailamah Kazab, who used to claim to be the brother of Muhammad and another messenger. Musailamah even used to try to make ayat, similar to the Qur'an. However even his own followers told him that it is better to repeat the ayat of Muhammad, and that they will accept it from him, because his own verses were so obviously defective.

Muja'a was a man who spent some time accompanying the Prophet (saw), and he was from the same town as Musailamah. Khalid bin Waleed was the one who was sent to fight against Musailamah, he conquered, and he captured from them 20 apostates. Muja'a said to him:
"Assalamu 'Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah."
Khalid looked to him and said: "Now you give me salam?"
Muja'a said: "O khalid you know me, I was among them who gave baya'ah to Muhammad (saw) and I still believe in what I believed in the past …"
Khalid said: "you do not believe in what you believed in the past, and your acceptance to live under this False Prophet (Musailamah kazab) and your silence is your consent. You are the most noble man in Yamamah, you knew that I was coming, yet you stayed with him and you did not come out with me, I cannot find any excuse for you at all, you heard what they said and you did not say a word, and there were among you people less than you, and they spoke against Musailamah, and they have been tortured and had been killed."
Muja'a said: "I was fearing from my people,"
Khalid said: "Why did you not come to me or send me a letter, I am going to stop killing you, but I am not going to let you free, between releasing you from my sword and releasing you completely is a middle solution, I am going to imprison you until Allah finds us a way."

He consulted with other sahabah and he killed Muja'a, because he judged his kufr actions NOT his intention.

Imam Shafi'I said about this: "Khalid bin Waleed considered Muja'ah kaafir because he was silent and he left what he believed in the past."

This Hadith has serious implications for all of the Muslims today, because today we find ourselves in a very strange situation, we are all surrounded by kufr and shirk, and we find false prophets and false gods all around us, calling for Democracy, for freedom, for capitalism. We find many people who claim that the 'western values' are 'human values', and that the whole world must embrace them even at the cost of Islam. we find rulers who do not rule by Islam, but by kufr law - i.e. we find many Taghout like Musailamah. If we are silent against these tawagheet, accepting to live under them without to say a word to condemn them, without to stand with the Muslims against them, then we would fall in the same hole and would be in the same situation as Muja'a. Imam Shafi'i explained that the silence of Muja'a was enough for Khalid bin Waleed to declare him kafir. Without a doubt we must protect ourselves from this kufr and forbid this munkar - the greatest of all munkars - i.e. Al Shirk. Furthermore, if the silence of Muja'ah is enough kufr, then what of those people who support and vote for the Musailamah of today (for the taghout rulers), or those who defend them and work for them?

Further evidence that we judge by what is apparent comes from the hadith, narrated by Nu'aim. He said:

"We were with the Prophet (saw), and a man came. They said he was a kaafir and conspired to take his money, the Prophet (saw) said: "didn't he say 'laa ilaha illallah?" they said: "yes, but only out of fear from the sword." The Prophet (saw) said: "do not kill him, I have been ordered to fight people until they say laa ilaha illallah, after that there life and wealth is protected." They said, "O Messenger, he feared our sword." The Prophet (saw) said: "I have been ordered to judge the apparent." [Nisaa'i 3714]

on this hadith, Sufyan Al Thawrie said: "This is so clear, that the pillars (the sayings and actions) are for people to see and hear (i.e. they are apparent)."

Another example of this is when a man had accused his pregnant wife of adultery, he had no witnesses but he wanted to make the five oaths, cursing her and cursing himself if he is a liar, and for her to do the same. The Prophet (saw) suggested to wait until after the baby is born, he spoke with the man and said that if the child looks like him then the child is his, and if it looks like the other man it is the other man's child. The child was born and it looked like the other man. The Prophet (saw) asked if she would make the oaths, and she did. He (saw) said:

"Just because of the oath she gave, there will be between her and me a different situation."

He judged her by what was apparent, i.e. the saying that she said, despite the likeness of the child to the other man, and so he did not accuse her further. Furthermore, The Prophet (saw) said:

"Whosoever prays our salah, and faces our qiblah, and eats our slaughtered meat, he is Muslim, and he has the dhimmah of Allah and the dhimmah of the messenger."

So whosoever has apparent actions that are Islamic actions, he is a Muslim. We do not dig further into his heart for his intention - what is apparent is enough for us.

Ali ibn Abi Talib narrated"Two slaves left on the day of hudaibiyah, from Makkah to Muhammad (saw), they said to Muhammad: "there are two slaves who make hijrah to you, not for your sake, but only to be freed from slavery." Muhammad (saw) angrily said: "you people of Quraish never stop misbehaving until Allah will send over you someone who will strike your neck because of this. I will never send them back, they are people whom Allah freed." [Abu Dawood]

Abdullah ibn Utbah ibn Mas'oud said: "I heard Umar ibn Khattab say, "there were some people excused by the wahi in the time of rasulullah, but now the wahi has stopped. now we account you by what you do that is apparent. And whoever shows us any corruption, we will never believe him nor trust him even if your intention was good." [Bukhari]

This saying was regarding Haatib ibn Abi Balta'a. Haatib was the one who had signalled to the Quraish that the army of Muhammad (saw) was coming to Makkah, Muhammad (saw) asked him about it, and he did not deny it. Umar ibn Khattab said: "Let me kill this kaafir."

Allah (swt) revealed to Muhammad (saw) that he did not commit Muwalaat Al Kubra, but that he committed Muwalaat Al Sughra i.e. kufr duna kufr. But also Haatib had special circumstances - he was a man who had fought, and he was from amongst the people of Badr, and was praised to the highest level by Muhammad (saw) in Badr, and he was from Al Sabiqun al Awwalun - i.e. Sahabi Akbar. He was a man who had family in Makkah - and it was to protect them that he did what he did. He did not commit Muwalaat out of kufr to fight with kuffar against Muslims.

Despite this, Muhammad (saw) did NOT condemn Umar for making takfir, nor defend Haatib from Umar's takfir, rather he just said: "I have been informed that Haatib did not say it out of Muwalaat."

This understanding of Umar ibn Khattab is clear, and is binding on us. Allah (swt) praised the companions of Muhammad (saw) to the highest level, and he declared them to be believers. Their understanding of the Qur'an and Sunnah is binding on us, and it is hujjah (shield) for us on the day of judgement. Umar ibn Khattab explained here that Haatib ibn Balta'ah was excused by the Wahi, while everyone after that is judged by what is apparent, as kafir if they show us kufr, and Muslim if they show us Islam. Furthermore, Muhammad (saw) consented to the takfeer of Umar ibn Khattab here, and only excused Haatib because Allah (swt) made excuse for him via the Wahi, however the Wahi stopped after Muhammad (saw). Furthermore, this is specific to Haatib, this is why in Islam, the judge does not ask for a motive as evidence, because the motive is what is inner not what is apparent, he will ask for a confession or for witnesses who saw the action. The Prophet (saw) said: "The confession is the master of all evidences."

And Imam Shafi'I said: "The intention, its place is in the heart. That is the way Sa'ed bin Musayyab taught us."

Furthermore, it is reported that,

"Muslims chased a man with ghanima, the man turned and said 'Assalamu 'Alaikum' they killed him. Allah (swt) revealed, "do not say to the one who says assalamu Alaikum, that you are not mu'min." and after that those Muslims never stopped paying kafarah."

However this is not so simple, the Tatarians used to say, laa ilaaha illallah, and pray, and give zakah. Yet because they referred to the Qur'an and alongside that, they followed the books of their leaders, fattawa were given to kill them even if they were praying in the masjid.

Furthermore, Abbas ibn Abu Muttalib was the one who went with the messenger (saw) even while he was still Mushrik. He warned the aws and khazraj to protect Muhammad (saw) and later he embraced Islam in Makkah and would report to Muhammad (saw) about the Quraish, however in Badr he was captured by the Muslims amongst the army of quraish. The Prophet (saw) said to him, "Why don't you ransom yourself? and ransom Uqayl ibn Abu Talib, and free Nawfal and Utbah bin Amru from your alliance" he (Abbas) said: "I am Muslim" the Prophet (saw) said: "Allah knows about your Islam, we found you among the army of Quraish" he said: "the people put ikrah on me." The Prophet (saw) said, "what is apparent is that you were fighting against us."

Abbas was not from among the weak in Makkah that Allah made excuse for in the qur'an. He was strong and even fought on a camel in Badr. Muhammad (saw) gave him no excuse, he was not interested in his intention for joining the army, rather he judged him on the kufr action that they found him on even though he professed his Islam and declared the shahadah.

THE ULEMAH ON JUDGING THE APPARENT

Abu Izz Al Hanafi said:
"We have been ordered to judge by the apparent, and Allah forbade us to doubt people, and to follow what we do not have knowledge, (Allah (swt) said: ) "O Believers, avoid the doubt … [49: 12] & [isra: 36]" [Aqeedah Tahaqiyyah]

In the Fiqh, it is asked, "what is the hukm to pray behind someone that you don't know if he is kaafir or not." - All the ulemah agree that the one who does not pray behind someone just because they do not know him - he is kaafir. And it is well known, that the one who refuses to pray behind someone until he knows his aqeedah, is deviant.

Imam Shafi'I said:
"The one who says, 'I do not pray jumu'a behind an imam, until I know his aqeedah in Batin (what is hidden in his heart)', he is a man who has deviated from the companions of Muhammad (saw)." [Kitab ul Umm]

Ibn Taymiyyah said:
"It is not a condition to pray behind anybody, to know his belief, nor to test him and he asks him 'what do you believe in?' Rather he is obliged to pray behind him without to know about his aqeedah, and the one who says 'I don't pray behind a man without to know his aqeedah' he is jahil, and no alim ever said so before."

Imam Ahmed said:
"The Imaan and the nifaq has its origin in the heart, but what appears is the sayings and actions, is its branch and is evidence about it."

IF THERE IS KUFR AND IMAAN BOTH APPARENT, WHAT DO WE CALL HIM?

The Prophet (saw) said:
"There cannot be two things in the heart of the mu'min, kufr and imaan, if they meet he is kaafir."

If there is Imaan and Kufr, the kufr overrides and takes over, so we call him kafir. Without a doubt what is apparent from many from the Muslim Ummah - is many kufr sayings and kufr actions, many people claim Islam to be 'out of date' or 'backwards', these kinds of kufr sayings are unacceptable and are declarations of the kufr in their hearts. Similarly we find that those who currently rule the Muslim lands throughout the world, rule not by Islam but by kufr, whether it be Democracy, Capitalism, Communism, or simply the desires of a dictator, and Allah (swt) said,"Whosoever rules by other than what Allah revealed, they are the Kafirun." [EMQ 5: 44]

We cannot excuse this Shirk in Allah (swt), Allah (swt) said, "the right of legislation is for none but Allah (swt)." [EMQ 12: 40] so to associate with Allah some other ruler in his legislation is evidence enough of their Shirk and Riddah (apostasy). Whether they say 'laa ilaha illallah' or not, whether they pray five times a day or not, or whether they fast in Ramadhan or not, they are Murtad Kafir (Apostate & Disbelievers) - because we do not look to what is in their hearts, we judge only what is apparent from their sayings and actions. Muhammad (saw) said, "every action is on the intention." so we judge the kufr actions of the taghout rulers to be in accordance to their kufr intentions, not to claim that they commit kufr with a good Islamic intention - this is both ridiculous and contradictory to the Shari'ah.

'Izzah: Forgotten Concept, Lost Virtue

2011-06-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

During his Caliphate, ‘Umar radi Allahu anhu set out for Ash-Shaam with Abu ‘Ubaydah. Along the way, they encountered a deep creek which could only be crossed directly, so ‘Umar took off his sandals and waded through the water. Concerned, Abu ‘Ubaydah said, “I fear that the people of the village will think you without honour.”

‘Umar replied, “Oh Abu Ubaydah! If only someone less knowledgeable than you had made such a statement. We were the most disgraced of people, and Allah granted us honour with Islam. Now, whenever we seek honour in other than that which Allah honoured us with, Allah shall disgrace us (once again).”

What would ‘Umar say if he could see us today? Given that we are as many as the foam upon the sea, and as useless? What would he say today, when our brothers and sisters are collateral damage, slaughtered left, right, and centre on demand while the rest us of are impotent to protect them?

The problem is that we have forgotten the concept of ‘izzah (honour). We have forgotten that no matter what our physical or financial state is, Allah has placed us in a position of superiority over all other creation.

By virtue of our tawheed, our emaan, our Islam, we are better than anyone else. And yes, while that sounds politically incorrect, our Rabb has clearly stated:

Surely those who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book and the polytheists shall be in the fire of hell, abiding therein; they are the worst of men.

(And) lo! those who believe and do good deeds, they are the best of creation. (al-Bayyinah, 6-7)

You are the best of people among all peoples, for you command Al-Maruf and forbid Al-Munkar, and you submit [in belief] to Allah. 3:110

Knowing this, why then do we still have inferiority complexes? Why do we find ourselves asking for help from those responsible for oppressing us? Why do we lower ourselves to such a position?

The fact of the matter is that we have lost our ‘izzah. We have lost the understanding of what it is and how we are to attain it.

So what is this ‘izzah? How do we attain it, and how do we lose it? How do we put this forgotten concept into practice, especially in this day and age? Insha’Allah, these questions and more will be answered in the following articles.

Part One: Literary Origins and Islamic Understanding

The Arabic word ‘izzah is from ayn-zay-zay, which means might, honour, respect, dignity, prestige, fame and glory. It also means to have the upper hand; sometimes ‘izzah is used positively for praise, and sometimes it’s used negatively for arrogance (such as surah Saad ayah 2).

عز/ العزة

‘Azz/ ‘Izzah

‘Azz

The root word for I’zzah, Azeez and Uzzah is ‘Azz which means to be or become strong, powerful or/and respected.

‘Azz’ can also mean to overpower/defeat.

{…and He overpowered Me In speech.} [Saad 23]

This is because there is a saying in Arabic من عز بز ‘whoever overpowers will defeat’, due to the other being more powerful in debating and speaking, and this is how he overpowered him in speech.

‘Izzah

Al ‘Izzah is a state which prevents a person from being overcome. When the Arabs call a land عزاز [‘azaaz’] they mean it is hard, solid, stiff and rigid.

Linguistically this term means: might/ power/ standing/ strength/ force/ honour/ glory/ high rank/ fame/ pride.

In the Qur’aan, ‘Izzah is sometimes mentioned in a praiseworthy sense and at other times it is mentioned in a blameworthy sense as the examples below illustrate:

‘But honour, power and Glory belong to Allaah, his Messenger (Muhammad Sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe Wa Sallam), and to the believers’ [Al Munaafiqoon 8]

‘Do they seek honour, power and Glory with them? Verily, then to Allâh belongs all honour, power and glory.’ [Al Nisaa 139]

When ‘Izzah is mentioned with regards to Allah, His Messenger (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), and the believers, it’s an everlasting honour, power and glory – it’s the true [haqiqi] ‘Izzah. On the other hand, when ‘Izzah is mentioned with regards to the disbelievers, it’s used to denote both disgrace and dishonour:

Nay, those who disbelieve are in false pride and opposition. [Saad 2]

And when it is said to him, “Fear Allâh”, he is led by arrogance to (more) crime. So enough for Him is Hell, and worst indeed is that place to rest! [Al Baqarah 206]

And they have taken (for worship) âliha (gods) besides Allâh, that they might give them honour, power, and glory (and also protect them from Allâh’s punishment etc.). [Maryam 81]

If only man would understand that honour belongs to Allah alone,

Whosoever desires honour, power, and glory, then to Allâh belongs all honour, power, and glory [Faatir 10]

(The above was taken from this pdf at IdealMuslimah.com)

Thus, we can see that in general, ‘izzah can be described as honour, dignity, and higher status. Hereafter, we shall use the term interchangeably with ‘honour’ for easier comprehension.

So:

‘Izzah is honour. And what is honour?

It’s not something tangible that we can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Honour is something else, something higher, something far more noble. It is pride and confidence, an aura of strength and serenity. It is a type of knowledge, a type of belief.

There was a time when any man, woman, or child would rather die than sacrifice their honour. Honour was a sense of pride and dignity people had that came from being absolutely confident and resolute in their beliefs, values, and identity.

To the Muslim, honour is something which Allah has blessed us with. It is the knowledge that in humbling ourselves to Him and Him alone, He has raised us above all other creation. It is the knowledge that by fearing Him and seeking reward from Him alone, no one and nothing else on Earth can inspire within us fear or interest in what they have to offer us. It is something which is attained by truly loving, believing, and acting upon the words of Allah’s Messenger (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) when he said:

Be mindful of Allah, and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of Allah; if you seek help, seek help of Allah. Know that if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with anything, they would harm you only with something Allah had already prescribed for you.

‘Izzah is attained by worshipping Allah alone, obeying His commands, avoiding what He has prohibited, and placing our entire reliance upon Him and Him alone.

Thus, its loss occurs when we do the opposite: when our emaan weakens, and our tawakkul fades, and we allow into our lives that which Allah hates for us. What kind of ‘izzah can we have when we abandon the very actions which are the cause of this elevated status? How can we have honour of any kind when we humiliate ourselves by neglecting the salaah, replacing the Words of Allah with the Qur’an of the Shaytaan (music), and place more importance in political activism than spiritual strength?

‘Izzah is borne of action, and is manifested as attitude. It is an attitude of superiority and of confidence, an attitude which we need to reclaim.

First of all, we need to recognize that having such an attitude is not a bad thing. Politically incorrect? Sure. And according to the current standards of political correctness, so is the Qur’an and the Sunnah; so is the entire religion of al-Islam. Are we going to deny it? Hide it? In an attempt to bring people closer to Islam, will we prevent them from reading the very source of Truth? No, by Allah! No matter what the people say, this is our Deen, this is al-Islam, and we will never be shy of it. This is the source of our ‘izzah, and we must never forget it.

Allah has stated repeatedly that He has chosen al-Islam as the only acceptable religion and that the true believers are those whom He has chosen as the khulafaa’ of this Earth.

The (only) religion with Allah is Islaam, but if they dispute with you, say, “I have submitted myself entirely to Allah.” (3:19 – 20)

And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers. (3:85)

So, do not become weak or sad, and you are superior if you are believers. [Al 'Imran; 139]

Once this is recognized, then we must go back to what we said in the beginning – this superiority and honour, this‘izzah, comes only from studying, understanding, and implementing Islam correctly in every sphere of our lives.

“So whoever hopes to see his Lord and be rewarded by Him, then let him make his worship correct and make it purely and exclusively for Him; and let him not give any share of it to other than Him.” [Surah al-Kahf 18:110].

If we obey Allah as we are supposed to, we will feel the peace, the tranquility, the strength and the confidence that befits those whom Allah is pleased with. And once Allah is pleased with a people, and He has promised them victory, is there anyone or anything on the face of this earth which could possibly stop them?

“Say: ‘O Allah. Lord of Power (And Rule), You give power to whom You please, and You strip off power from whom You please: You endow with honor whom You please, and You bring low whom You please: In Your hand is all good. Verily, over all things You have power.’” (3:26).

: Last man to enter paradise :

2011-06-03T18:38:00.001-07:00

Narrated Abu Huraira: Some people said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?"

He said, "Do you crowd and squeeze each other on looking at the sun when it is not hidden by clouds?" They replied, "No, Allah's Apostle." He said, "Do you crowd and squeeze each other on looking at the moon when it is full and not hidden by clouds?"

They replied, No, O Allah's Apostle!" He said, "So you will see Him (your Lord) on the Day of Resurrection similarly Allah will gather all the people and say, 'Whoever used to worship anything should follow that thing. 'So, he who used to worship the sun, will follow it, and he who used to worship the moon will follow it, and he who used to worship false deities will follow them; and then only this nation (i.e., Muslims) will remain, including their hypocrites.

Allah will come to them in a shape other than they know and will say, 'I am your Lord.' They will say, 'We seek refuge with Allah from you. This is our place; (we will not follow you) till our Lord comes to us, and when our Lord comes to us, we will recognize Him. Then Allah will come to then in a shape they know and will say, "I am your Lord.' They will say, '(No doubt) You are our Lord,' and they will follow Him. Then a bridge will be laid over the (Hell) Fire." Allah's Apostle added, "I will be the first to cross it. And the invocation of the Apostles on that Day, will be 'Allahumma Sallim, Sallim (O Allah, save us, save us!),' and over that bridge there will be hooks Similar to the thorns of As Sa'dan (a thorny tree). Didn't you see the thorns of As-Sa'dan?" The companions said, "Yes, O Allah's Apostle."

He added, "So the hooks over that bridge will be like the thorns of As-Sa-dan except that their greatness in size is only known to Allah. These hooks will snatch the people according to their deeds. Some people will be ruined because of their evil deeds, and some will be cut into pieces and fall down in Hell, but will be saved afterwards, when Allah has finished the judgments among His slaves, and intends to take out of the Fire whoever He wishes to take out from among those who used to testify that none had the right to be worshipped but Allah. We will order the angels to take them out and the angels will know them by the mark of the traces of prostration (on their foreheads) for Allah banned the f ire to consume the traces of prostration on the body of Adam's son.

So they will take them out, and by then they would have burnt (as coal), and then water, called Maul Hayat (water of life) will be poured on them, and they will spring out like a seed springs out on the bank of a rainwater stream, and there will remain one man who will be facing the (Hell) Fire and will say, 'O Lord! It's (Hell's) vapor has Poisoned and smoked me and its flame has burnt me; please turn my face away from the Fire.' He will keep on invoking Allah till Allah says, 'Perhaps, if I give you what you want), you will ask for another thing?' The man will say, 'No, by Your Power, I will not ask You for anything else.'

Then Allah will turn his face away from the Fire. The man will say after that, 'O Lord, bring me near the gate of Paradise.' Allah will say (to him), 'Didn't you promise not to ask for anything else? Woe to you, O son of Adam ! How treacherous you are!' The man will keep on invoking Allah till Allah will say,But if I give you that, you may ask me for something else.' The man will say, 'No, by Your Power. I will not ask for anything else.' He will give Allah his covenant and promise not to ask for anything else after that. So Allah will bring him near to the gate of Paradise, and when he sees what is in it, he will remain silent as long as Allah will, and then he will say, 'O Lord! Let me enter Paradise.' Allah will say, 'Didn't you promise that you would not ask Me for anything other than that? Woe to you, O son of Adam ! How treacherous you are!' On that, the man will say, 'O Lord! Do not make me the most wretched of Your creation,' and will keep on invoking Allah till Allah will smile and when Allah will smile because of him, then He will allow him to enter Paradise, and when he will enter Paradise, he will be addressed, 'Wish from so-and-so.' He will wish till all his wishes will be fulfilled, then Allah will say, All this (i.e. what you have wished for) and as much again therewith are for you.' "

Abu Huraira added: That man will be the last of the people of Paradise to enter (Paradise). Narrated 'Ata (while Abu Huraira was narrating): Abu Said was sitting in the company of Abu Huraira and he did not deny anything of his narration till he reached his saying: "All this and as much again therewith are for you." Then Abu Sa'id said, "I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'This is for you and ten times as much.' " Abu Huraira said, "In my memory it is 'as much again therewith.' " (Book #76, Hadith #577)

A Close Look At The American Society

2011-05-30T13:38:00.001-07:00

A Close Look At The American Society

The "value system" of Jews and the traditional value system of America are NOT in line with one another. Jews have long held, and continue to hold a DUAL morality system: One set of values for dealing with other Jews, and another set for dealing with everyone else. In her early years, (most) people immigrating to America wanted ONE thing - the better life that the traditional value system of America promised. And they wanted to BECOME Americans - to ASSIMILATE into our great and highly admired CULTURE as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Jews, for the most part, had NO such desire to assimilate, but wanted only to suck at the tit of America - milking her for what she was worth.

Not being comfortable as a lone non-assimilating minority (which stuck out like a sore thumb), they started pressing SOCIAL issues, intending to stir up the country, and to divide us into a nation or quarreling factions, each group selfishly pursuing their own agenda. The Jews pushed "Civil Rights" (even founded and ran the NAACP) to create racial divisions, "Feminism" to divide the sexes, they pushed the "counter-culture" of Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll" of the Sixties and Seventies to separate a generation of children from the values of their parents. Jews pushed the "Great Society" welfare State to further divide the races, create a cycle of poverty, and more importantly, to DESTROY the family unit, creating generations of fatherless youth, shiftless and prone to criminal behavior.

Jews pushed HARD for "Immigration Reform" which saw to it that non-Whites and immigrants from non-European countries were given preference, thus diluting the Whiteness of America, while creating sub-cultures that would almost certainly *never* fully assimilate. New media-driven "hyphenations" began to appear: "African-American", "Mexican-American", "Cuban-American", etc. The cohesion of the country was unraveling, just as they'd planned. Jews attacked religion on the issue of "separation of Church and State", in an attempt to destroy the idea that the US is a "Christian Nation" the intent being to further demoralize the nation. Jews pushed Affirmative Action to give race and gender based preferences to underqualified students and employees, creating tension and animosity between "minorities" and those who were stepped on in the name of *diversity*.

The Jewish media has long pushed interracial sex and marriage, from "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (written by the Jew William Rose, and produced and directed by the Jew Stanley Kramer) to Murray Rothstein's MTV, which shows Black "singers" chanting "Hate Whitey" messages, even as they grope and fondle White girls - a Jewish attempt to inspire race-mixing, and destroy racial identity. And the whole time, even as Jews worked to corrupt and pollute American society, and especially White Gentile who they sought to disempower, Jews have done their best to INSULATE themselves from the fires they started, and whose flames they fanned.

Within their OWN group, race mixing was shunned. In Israel, Jews want nothing to do with "ethnic diversity", or open borders allowing all comers, do they? Israelis have no interest in the "civil rights" of non-Jews, they stress FAMILY VALUES, where here they champion the virtues of single mothers raising children. Jews in Israel want no part of "Freedom of Religion", and have little tolerance for non-Jews "polluting" their religious monoculture. These are a *few* of the "wonderful" things that Jews have done for America. And when these are viewed in contrast to the way Jews choose to live in their OWN culture, any illusion that Jews may have had America's "best interests" at heart quickly vanishes. Jews work to serve the interests of Jews. They always have, and apparently always will.

The way I see it, there is no such thing as an American Jew, a Canadian Jew, an Argentinean Jew, or a French Jew. These are just Jews who *happen* to be living in some country or other - as a temporary matter of convenience. Of course, they'll happily support the interests of their country of residence - provided that these don't conflict with the interests of Jews, which are PARAMOUNT. Admittedly I paint with a broad brush, because certainly MANY Jews didn't support all of the planks in the Jewish platform for the attack on merica - but no more than Jews paint with a broad brush when they decry the Nazis. Certainly not ALL Nazis were in favor of ALL of the things that the Nazis were doing, but that doesn't stop people from being opposed to Nazis or Nazism in general. By the same token, not ALL Jews are in favor of ALL of the things that the Jews have done or are doing to the US, and virtually every country in Europe, but that shouldn't stop *all* thinking Gentiles who care about what is in THEIR best interests from being opposed to Jews and their pernicious machinations.

Addiction

American people are suffering from many types of behavioral and substance addictions today. Alcohol addiction is a major problem in America, and it has left untold misery in its wake. According to statistics from (Government) sources alcohol is involved in:

66% of fatal accidents.
70% of murders.
72% of assaults and robberies.
52% of fire deaths.
50% of problems at work.
60% of suicides.
56-70% of fights and assaults in homes.

Food addiction is becoming recognized as a major problem today, as the majority of Americans are overweight, and an unprecedented number are actually obese. Cigarette addiction is claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people annually, as Americans are finally succumbing to a wide variety of diseases associated with a lifetime of smoking. While some groups of Americans are giving up smoking, other groups, such as women and teens are showing dramatic increases. The death toll just continues to roll. Gambling is quickly becoming the new addiction.

Consider Adult Gambling:

There are many cities in which casinos and gambling are legal. The latest craze is for American Indian reservations to legalize gambling, creating brand new facilities in which people can lose their money. And the crowds filling these gambling halls are enormous. Bingo is sponsored primarily by churches and charitable organizations, Horse racing and Sports gambling is huge business. State lotteries have been conceived as the easiest way for governments to raise money. People who would protest vigorously against increased taxes simply do not mind losing even more money to a government sponsored lottery. Since children learn most effectively from observing role models, we might expect that, with all this gambling going on among the adults, teenagers might be developing this attitude themselves. Such is exactly the case. In high schools, 50% of the kids are now gambling; One in five (20%) has a serious problem-- stealing in order to gamble.

The Drugs of Sorcery

America, as a nation, has certainly embarked upon the usage of drugs. Drug abuse and addiction are now at a high epidemic level in the U.S., accompanied by the corresponding crime rate. The greatest loss, of course, is the human one. America's losses are occurring through several channels:

Drug overdose is killing thousands every year.
Drug dependency is killing family structure.
Drugs drain the nation economically.
Drugs drain the nation's health care system
Drug addicts now are being born from mothers who are addicts, passing the addiction in their womb.
Drug addiction is contributing greatly to the spread of AIDS.

The Drug Traffickers, the Banks and the White House

If the major US banks are the financial engines which allow the billion dollar drug empires to operate, the White House, the US Congress and the law enforcement agencies are the basic protectors of these banks. Despite the deep and pervasive involvement of the major banks in laundering hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit funds, the “court settlements” pursued by US prosecutors have led to no jail time for the bankers. One court’s settlement amounted to a fine of $50 million dollars, less than 0.5% of one of the banks (the Wachovia/Wells Fargo bank) $12.3 billion profits for 2009 (The Guardian, May 11, 2011). Despite the death of tens of thousands of Mexican civilians, US executive branch directed the DEA, the federal prosecutors and judges to impose such a laughable ‘punishment’ on Wachovia for its illegal services to the drug cartels. The most prominent economic officials of the Bush and Obama regimes, including Summers, Paulson, Geithner, Greenspan, Bernacke et al, are all long term associates, advisers and members of the leading financial houses and banks implicated in laundering the billions of drug profits. Laundering drug money is one of the most lucrative sources of profit for Wall Street; the banks charge hefty commissions on the transfer of drug profits, which they then lend to borrowing institutions at interest rates far above what – if any – they pay to drug trafficker depositors. Awash in sanitized drug profits, these US titans of the finance world can easily buy their own elected officials to perpetuate the system.

Mental illness or distress

Most people today understand that millions of Americans are suffering from some form of mental illness or distress. Of course, when someone does begin to suffer mental and emotional distress, they are far more open to the temptation of substance of lifestyle addiction.

In this country, killing has reached unprecedented levels. "A violent crime is committed (in America) every 5 seconds...In a typical year: There are 8.1 million serious crimes like murder, assault, and burglary. BUT:

Only 724,000 adults are ever arrested.
Only 193,000 of them are convicted.
Only 149,000 of them go to prison.
And, 36,000 serve less than a year (in prison).
If all this isn't enough, the 8.1 million crimes, above, represent only 50% of the actual crimes committed. The rest are never reported to the police."

Sexual lust

Americans today are caught up in a frenzy of sexual lust, on a wide variety of fronts. Our mass media -- TV, newspapers, magazines, and movies -- have been pumping sexual sin into the minds and hearts of Americans since the end of World War II; however, since the early 1980's, depiction of sexual sin have reached ever-increasing levels of frequency and stark reality. The predictable change in attitudes and values among the population has occurred, as many, if not most, young Americans have adopted the attitude that any sexual action is OK to do as long as it feels good.

Of course, our school systems have gotten into the act also, as they have continuously taught that there are no absolute right or wrong and that sex between students is inevitable. This entire process of eroding the traditional values system of the population of America began in 1963, when the Supreme Court ruled that prayer could no longer be said in public schools. The resulting change in behavior is startling, to say the least:

Pregnancies to girls 10-14: +553%
Suicide Rates for 15-24 year-olds: +102%, 20-24 year-olds: +98%
School dropouts: +650%
Divorce: +140%
Violent Crime: +160%
Sexually transmitted Diseases: +148%
Alcohol Consumption per person: +24%

The Epidemic Of Prescription Drug Overdose Deaths According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, more than 6 million Americans are currently abusing prescription drugs—that is more than the number of Americans abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined. With more current users, we can expect the mortality rates from prescription drug overdose deaths to continue to rise.

Children Of The Corn: GMOs Don’t Qualify As Food There has been a concerted national effort by citizens to have the US government label GMOs. Opposing it are government intent not only to keep them unlabeled in the US but efforts at the international level by the US government to remove all labeling of GMOs through Codex. The problem is that Codex applies to food, and GMOs don't qualify.

GMO Study: OMG, You’re Eating Insecticide… Most Americans remain blissfully unaware (or don’t care) they are eating genetically-modified (GM) organisms every day. Passivity and blind faith in the USDA, FDA and EPA have largely contributed to this attitude. Perhaps that will change now that a new study reveals an insecticide produced in GM corn actually gets absorbed into the human body. If you haven’t been paying attention to your food lately, biotechnology giants such as Monsanto thank you for that. Because behind your back, they’ve succeeded in replacing 86% of US corn with their patented insecticide-producing “frankencorn”.

Germany To Scrap Nuclear Power By 2022 Germany on Monday became the first major industrialised power to agree an end to nuclear power in the wake of the disaster in Japan, with a phase-out to be completed by 2022. Chancellor Angela Merkel said the decision, hammered out by her centre-right coalition overnight, marked the start of a "fundamental" rethink of energy policy in the world's number four economy. "We want the electricity of the future to be safer and at the same time reliable and affordable," Merkel told reporters as she accepted the findings of an expert commission on nuclear power she appointed in March in response to the crisis at Japan's Fukushima plant. "That means we must have a new approach to the supply network, energy efficiency, renewable energy and also long-term monitoring of the process," said Merkel, whose popularity had suffered over her previous pro-nuclear stance. The commission found that it would be viable within a decade for Germany to mothball all 17 of its nuclear reactors, eight of which are currently off the electricity grid. Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen announced the gradual shutdown early Monday after seven hours of negotiations at Merkel's offices between the ruling coalition partners. He said the decision was "irreversible". Seven of the reactors already offline are the country's oldest, which the government shut down for three months pending a safety probe after the Fukushima emergency. The eighth is the Kruemmel plant, in northern Germany, which has been offline for years due to repeated technical problems. Six further reactors are to be shut down by the end of 2021 and the three most modern would stop operating by the end of 2022. Monday's decision, which could run into legal challenges from energy companies, means Germany will have to find the 22 percent of its electricity needs that were covered by nuclear power from other sources. Italy scrapped nuclear power in 1987, one year after the Chernobyl disaster, while neighbouring Switzerland said last week it would phase out atomic energy by 2034.

May 29, 2011

UNJUSTMEDIA

Hundreds of women report rapes by Qaddafi forces

2011-05-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 28 May 2011

At first, the responses to the questionnaire about the trauma of the war in Libya were predictable, if tragic: 10,000 people suffering post-traumatic stress, 4,000 children with psychological problems. Then came the unexpected: 259 women said they had been raped by militiamen loyal to Muammar Qaddafi.

Dr. Seham Sergewa had been working with children traumatized by the fighting in Libya but soon found herself being approached by troubled mothers who felt they could trust her with their dark secret.

The first victim came forward two months ago, followed by two more. All were mothers of children the London-trained child psychologist was treating, and all described how they were raped by militiamen fighting to keep Qaddafi in power.

Dr. Sergewa decided to add a question about rape to the survey she was distributing to Libyans living in refugee camps after being driven from their homes. The main purpose was to try to determine how children were faring in the war; she suspected many were suffering from PTSD.

To her surprise, 259 women came forward with accounts of rape. They all said the same thing.

"I was really surprised when I started visiting these areas, first by the number of people suffering from PTSD, including the large number of children among them, and then by the number of women who had been raped from both the east and west of the country," Dr. Sergewa said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Rape has been a common weapon of war throughout the ages, most recently in conflicts from the Balkans in Europe to Sri Lanka in Asia and in sub-Saharan Africa, where Congo has been described as the epicenter of sexual crimes.

Across the world, rape carries a stigma. But it can be a deadly one in conservative Muslim societies like Libya, where rape is considered a stain on the honor of the entire family. Victims can be abandoned by their families and, in some cases, left in the desert to die. Speaking to a journalist is out of the question.

Dr. Sergewa's questionnaire was distributed to 70,000 families and drew 59,000 responses.

"We found 10,000 people with PTSD, 4,000 children suffering psychological problems and 259 raped women," she said, adding that she believes the number of rape victims is many times higher but that woman are afraid to report the attacks.

The women said they had been raped by Qaddafi's militias in numerous cities and towns: Benghazi, Tobruk, Brega, Bayda and Ajdabiya (where the initial three mothers hail from) and Saloum in the east; and Misrata in the west.

Some just said they had been raped. Some did not sign their names; some just used their initials. But some felt compelled to share the horrific details of their ordeals on the back of the questionnaire.

Reading from the scribbled Arabic on the back of one survey, Dr. Sergewa described one woman's attack in Misrata in March, while it was still occupied by Qaddafi's forces.

"First they tied my husband up," the woman wrote. "Then they raped me in front of my husband and my husband's brother. Then they killed my husband."

Another woman in Misrata said she was raped in front of her four children after Qaddafi fighters burned down her home.

"She ran away with her children and tried to escape to the port, but then they started shelling the port. In the chaos, she was separated from the children," Dr. Sergewa said.

"She was distraught when I interviewed her, not knowing if her children were dead or alive. I wish I knew the end of her story, but I don't know what happened to her."

Doctors at hospitals in Benghazi, the rebel bastion, said they had heard of women being raped but had not treated any. The first international airstrikes on March 19 saved the city from falling into the hands of Qaddafi forces who were advancing in columns of tanks.

However, a doctor in Ajdabiya, 100 miles (150 kilometers) south of Benghazi, said he treated three women who said they were raped by Qaddafi fighters in March when the town was invaded.

"These women were terrified their families would find out - two were married, one was single," Dr. Suleiman Refadi said. "They only came to me because they also were terrified that they may have been infected with the AIDS virus." He said they had tested negative but doubted they would return for follow-up tests.

Qaddafi's fighters were forced out of Ajdabiya weeks ago and the town now is largely deserted but for the rebels.

In a highly publicized case in Libya, Iman al-Obeidi burst into the hotel housing foreign journalists in Tripoli in March and accused pro-Qaddafi militiamen of gang-raping her because she is from rebel-held eastern Libya. Her anguished disclosure was captured by Western cameras and shown around the world.

Earlier this month, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Luis Moreno-Campo, said he has "strong evidence" of crimes against humanity committed by Qaddafi's regime, including serious allegations of "women arrested and gang raped."

One of Libya's leading psychiatrists, Dr. Ali M. Elroey, told the AP that he has set up three mobile teams to treat trauma victims of the war in their homes or in temporary shelters: one for PTSD, one for other psychological problems and one for rape survivors.

Dr. Elroey said they need to reach out to people in their homes because the stigma associated with psychiatric care is leaving large numbers of patients untreated.

His outpatient clinic at Benghazi's psychiatric hospital has treated more than 600 patients in two months, many responding to radio and newspaper advertisements offering psychiatric help for war trauma. He said most were women, though none had acknowledged being raped.

Dr. Sergewa said she has interviewed 140 of the rape survivors in various states of mental anguish, and has been unable to persuade a single victim to prosecute. None would speak to the AP about her ordeal, even with a promise to hide her identity.

"Some I diagnosed with acute psychosis; they are hallucinating," Dr. Sergewa said. "Some are very depressed; some want to commit suicide. Some want their parents to kill them because they don't want their families to bear the shame."

Some already have been abandoned by their husbands and fear seeking treatment could get them ostracized or cast out of their communities. Others have kept the rapes a secret for fear of retribution from spouses. "They fear their husbands will take them out to the desert and leave them there to die," Dr. Sergewa said.

It is likely more rapes could occur as the conflict drags on, Dr. Sergewa said.

"They are using rape not just to hurt women but to terrorize entire families and communities," Dr. Sergewa said. "The women I spoke to say they believed they were raped because their husbands and brothers were fighting Qaddafi.

"I think it is also to put shame on the tribes or the villages, to scare people into fleeing, and to say: 'We have raped your women,'" she said.

Dr. Sergewa says women will continue to be targets of the militiamen, and this makes it all the more urgent to finish her study and get it published.

"We must throw light on what is really happening in Libya and fight to bring justice for these women, to help heal them psychologically," she said.

(Associated Press writer Mike Corder contributed to this report from The Hague.)

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/28/150901.html

Ya ibnii - fil jannah

2011-05-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

An uncle, left, prays over the body of one and a half year-old Mohsen Ali al-Sheikh, who was killed by a gunshot during clashes between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces earlier in the day,

Misrata, Libya Friday, May 27, 2011.

Nasheed في ليل هان بسكون

2011-05-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

في ليل هان بسكون.mp3

Ya Ikhwati : With English Translation

2011-05-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

Key quotes from Obama's Middle East speech

2011-05-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON | Thu May 19, 2011 1:43pm EDT

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama addressed the convulsive events sweeping North Africa and the Middle East and offered a glimpse of a U.S. peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians in a speech Thursday.

Following are some of the key passages of the 45-minute speech:

OSAMA BIN LADEN

"Bin Laden was no martyr. He was a mass murderer who offered a message of hate - an insistence that Muslims had to take up arms against the West, and that violence against men, women and children was the only path to change. He rejected democracy and individual rights for Muslims in favor of violent extremism; his agenda focused on what he could destroy - not what he could build."

ON UPRISINGS THAT BEGAN IN TUNISIA WITH A VENDOR'S DEATH

"The story of this Revolution, and the ones that followed, should not have come as a surprise. The nations of the Middle East and North Africa won their independence long ago, but in too many places their people did not. In too many countries, power has been concentrated in the hands of the few. In too many countries, a citizen like that young vendor had nowhere to turn - no honest judiciary to hear his case; no independent media to give him voice; no credible political party to represent his views; no free and fair election where he could choose his leader.

"... But the events of the past six months show us that strategies of repression and diversion won't work anymore. Satellite television and the Internet provide a window into the wider world - a world of astonishing progress in places like India, Indonesia and Brazil. Cell phones and social networks allow young people to connect and organize like never before. A new generation has emerged. And their voices tell us that change cannot be denied."

US POLICY TOWARD THE EVENTS

"The United States opposes the use of violence and repression against the people of the region. We support a set of universal rights. Those rights include free speech; the freedom of peaceful assembly; freedom of religion; equality for men and women under the rule of law; and the right to choose your own leaders - whether you live in Baghdad or Damascus; Sanaa or Tehran. And finally, we support political and economic reform in the Middle East and North Africa that can meet the legitimate aspirations of ordinary people throughout the region. ... It will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region, and to support transitions to democracy."

LIBYA

"Now, time is working against Gaddafi. He does not have control over his country. The opposition has organized a legitimate and credible Interim Council. And when Gaddafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end, and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed."

SYRIA

"The Syrian people have shown their courage in demanding a transition to democracy. President Assad now has a choice: he can lead that transition, or get out of the way. The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators and allow peaceful protests; release political prisoners and stop unjust arrests; allow human rights monitors to have access to cities like Dara'a; and start a serious dialogue to advance a democratic transition. Otherwise, President Assad and his regime will continue to be challenged from within and isolated abroad."

IRAN AND YEMEN

"Our opposition to Iran's intolerance - as well as its illicit nuclear program, and its sponsorship of terror - is well known. But if America is to be credible, we must acknowledge that our friends in the region have not all reacted to the demands for change consistent with the principles that I have outlined today. That is true in Yemen, where President Saleh needs to follow through on his commitment to transfer power."

BAHRAIN

"The only way forward is for the government and opposition to engage in a dialogue, and you can't have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful opposition are in jail. The government must create the conditions for dialogue, and the opposition must participate to forge a just future for all Bahrainis.

EGYPT AND TUNISIA

"First, we have asked the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to present a plan at next week's G-8 summit for what needs to be done to stabilize and modernize the economies ofTunisia and Egypt. Together, we must help them recover from the disruption of their democratic upheaval, and support the governments that will be elected later this year."

ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS

"So while the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear: a viable Palestine, and a secure Israel. The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine. The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.

"As for security, every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself - by itself - against any threat. Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence of terrorism; to stop the infiltration of weapons; and to provide effective border security. The full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign, non-militarized state. The duration of this transition period must be agreed, and the effectiveness of security arrangements must be demonstrated."

*Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/19/us-obama-mideast-quotes-idUSTRE74I63A20110519

Pakistan Taliban warns of retaliation

2011-05-18T04:49:00.000-07:00

Al Jazeera obtains exclusive video that shows the group vowing revenge for bin Laden's death.

The Pakistani Taliban have issued their first videotaped message since Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals earlier this month.

In the exclusive footage, obtained by Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, the group is shown vowing revenge for the al-Qaeda leader's death.

Torture in the Saudi Prisons

2011-05-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

As Related by a Muslim Prisoner

The following is the story which was told to us by a youth, a trustworthy veteran of the Afghan war, who was incarcerated at Ar-Ruwais Prison in Jeddah and whom Allah saved.

Kabul fell, and the fires of fitna and disagreement alit between the various Mujahideen factions.
We held our hands back from participating in such a diatribe and dark fitna. I went back to the Kingdom (of Saudi Arabia) seeking safety and tranquility. I looked for treatment for the amputated leg which I lost during the Afghan Jihad. I stayed in Jeddah. I lived close to the hospital in a small apartment caring about nothing except treating my leg and healing my wounds.

After the Riyadh bombing (of a U.S. training facility November 1996), I was awakened by strong knocking on my door. I stood on my canes running to open it only to see it knocked down. The knockers burst into the apartment. I thought they were thieves. I yelled at them: "Who are you? What do you want from me?" They were eleven, members of the Mabaheth (Saudi Security). They overcame me, searched my apartment and turned it upside down after they had hand-cuffed me for about two hours. All that time they were searching, they did not leave anything or anywhere but searched, including the pipes in the bathroom. Then, they took whatever they willed of books and tapes and took me with them, tied. The trip took eight months of misery and agony.

I never thought anyone could find such a treatment of humiliation in the land of the two holy shrines. The car stopped in front of a large building. I knew it was ar-Ruwais Prison where the central Mabaheth of Jeddah is located. We passed a large gate and the car made a tour of the compound as if they wanted to give me a tourist flavor of the courtyard of this complex, which was expanded as of late to be able to service the victims of increasing and continuous security raids.
Inside the compound, I was hosted by prison guards who did the routine "check-in" procedures from changing clothes to holding my personal belongings. I was taken to a small cell not exceeding 1.5 m in length by 1.0 m of width. I stayed there for 3 months. I was not there for long after my arrival when I was taken to Office No. 1. There I met the interrogator, "Abu Nayef" and who was recently promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. He was promoted, I believe, for his commitment to humiliating the servants of God and his creative methods in their torture. I discovered later, that the "Abu Nayef" stop was a first-stop, a low-ranking interrogation, but he is committed to doing this 'routine' himself. He then gives the case to a subordinate, following the case himself, or seeking the advice and directives of his boss, the prison director, Zagzoug.

I stood in front of him, hand-cuffed. Two subordinates were standing next to him. Their faces had no expressions except those of fear and enmity. He asked me: "Were you the one who set up the Riyadh Bomb?" I denied any connection to the bombing. It was the truth - I knew nothing of the bombing except what I read and heard in the media.

They started beating me savagely. No place in my body but must have received its share of beating and ache during the session. My clothes were all torn. All this and my hands still handcuffed. I was half-naked. Their appetite for torture was opened. Seeing the state I was in, now using whips and tools I have never seen in my life. Hours of beating later they were asking the same question again and again: "Why did you bomb Riyadh?" I could do nothing but deny the charges. I did not do it. I was dizzy and eventually passed out for what they served me. Every time I passed out, they would throw water at me to wake me. I could no longer stand, I fell on the floor. Had it not been the case that they were bored and exhausted of torturing this soul they would have finished me that day. They ordered guards to take me to the cell. Two guards threw me there. I was like a dead corpse. I could no longer move.

They took me the next day again for interrogation. They asked me the same question again and again. Each time I denied, they whipped me. They improved their torture methods this time. I was tied by the arms to the back hanging from a metal bar like a feast's beast ready for roasting. The interrogation is now a special torture scene. They hit me with whips and sticks all over. Sometimes they did it all as one group. Sometimes they took turns. They were making Jihad in the way of Sultan and competing as to who will skin me first. It was all licit in their eyes. I could not stand to any of their plots. I was hanging in the air. My head was in suspension too. Earth was turning. My soul was about to come out seeking the help of its Creator against these beasts.

I was in a better shape than other prisoners. Some had no clothing left during the torture or "roasting" feasts. They were fondling with his private parts and inserting in his rectum whatever they willed.
All of this and they were laughing as if they were feasting on a camp fire.
The second day I was taken to my cell. I was in a worst state than during the party of the previous day. The feasts and parties continued later on until the "Abu Nayef" was tired. He took me to his boss Zagzoug. He had a worse tongue, and a Kufri speech. He cursed Shariah, Deen and its people. He cursed the Scholars and the righteous ones. I remember how he dealt with Deen and how he described Shar` (Islamic law), with the worst of words, which, by Allah, hurt me more than what came upon me in my physique of torture. I felt helpless to champion God in a time he likes my championship. He was, with all this, threatening to rape me.
After the interrogators felt that I was a helpless case, for I had no connection to the Riyadh bombing, they started to force me to confess that I was of the people of Takfir, those who not only say that our leaders are disbelievers, but thwho go to the point of claiming that Ulema and society as a whole is in a state of disbelief. They wanted to force me to confess to having targeted with armed action some specific civilian targets.

I knew later when I was taken to the collective cell that all the youth that were under incarceration were forced to confess to Takfir and armed action. This is with respect to Saudi citizens. As to non-Saudis they were asked to confess to one of two things: either they worked for the intelligence services of their home countries or supporting armed struggle back home. Anyone who thought that either option would save him of torture was fooled.

I realised after having been moved to the collective cell that the number of prisoners of conscience was overwhelming. It is as if any youth who displayed some degree of religiosity was incarcerated at ar-Ruwais prison. I discovered that for some youth, their wives were also incarcerated. They were being interrogated by savage beasts. I was filled with rage and helplessness. These interrogators have no moral or ethical standards to entice them not to target these ladies. I could only seek God's help to protect and save them. Some prisoners told me they were threatened to bring their womenfolk to rape if they did not confess. I discovered also that several prisoners were gathered in one room, naked, all tortured as the others watched to further humiliate and degrade them. I also came to know that the Gehenna to which I was exposed was nothing compared to what others have seen.

There were those who saw their toe and finger nails removed. There were those who were deprived of sleep for consecutive days. I still remember the sight of a prisoner who was forbidden sleep for 9 days. They whipped him everytime he sat or tried to sleep. His torturers were taking roles to make sure he does not sleep. They were on a "Jihadist" crusade to forbid him from sleeping lest the country will be lost!! The poor man lost his nerve and started to hysteric cry he still suffers from.

In the collective cell, I saw and heard what no one could ever believe. In the concentration camp I saw a group of Mujahideen; those no one in Arabia could point at except by way of honour and respect for their dedication and courage in the way of God. I saw the famed Hassan al-Srihi (of the 'Lion's Den' Operation in Afghanistan) who was brought from Pakistan and delivered to the Regime. He was exposed to the worst of torture by the Sultan's Servants to confess to the Riyadh Bombing. Despite the fact that no connection has been established as to his association with the bombing, whether close or far, he is still in prison. No one championed him in the outside world, nor did the authorities do justice to him.

I knew from my stay there that Palestinian Professor Muhammad Yusuf Abbas who was Shaikh Abdallah Azzam's caliph at Maktab Khadamat al-Mujahideen was there.

Abu Abdelaziz 'Barbaros', the man who was at the forefront of Jihad in Bosnia, who is now almost fifty years old, who sacrificed much in performing the duty of Jihad in Allah's sake, was also there.

I knew from my stay that there was a special cell called: "The Trouble-Makers' Cell" prepared especially for those who do not cooperate with the interrogators. The cell is situated outside the main building at Ar-Ruwais Complex in the burning sun. It had a bath which did not have an exit. Therefore all excrements remained on the spot bringing in insects and the worst of odors. This is for those that pass by it, what about those who live in it? This reminds me of another problem from which we all suffer. That of bathrooms. The ratio of restrooms to prisoners is small. We had to stand in line to relieve ourselves. We got accustomed to relieving ourselves at the collective cell.

This is what I heard of eye witnesses and what I saw of physical and emotional scars in me that still haunt me. Even after having been moved to the collective cell. I was not spared the torture scenes. Each of us was taken twice a week at least to the "roasting" feasts. During each torture session the interrogators create new stories, new allegations, from running a weapons' smuggling ring, to armed operations to connections with 'x' or 'y' to Takfir.

Despite all this, the plots of torturers and servants of the Sultan and their hopes are doomed to failure. It is through trial and through sufferance that God's victory comes about and His Powers are displayed. It is in these times that the sublime Sakinah and tranquility despite adversity comes. It is through this that we get assurance that God's Promise will be fulfilled and His Will shall come to pass as decreed. I never heard anyone regret one day he spent in Jihad, or consider Jihad as being the source of the hurt they were subject to at the hands of those who do not fear Allah. Some have displayed the best of examples of resistance and strength. Hassan al-Srihi was the talk of everyone: how under torture he kept on reading Qur'an and making Zikr. He stayed in such a state until the torture ended.

I felt reassured after I saw him. After all that I saw, the confessions people saw on T.V, or those that were publicised in the printed media were nothing but coerced confessions and the work of interrogators who force their victims to sign whatever they write. If you see those subject to such dehumanising conditions there is no way one can believe what the authorities claim.

I ask The Almighty, in all His Powers, to remove this adversity imposed on the people of the land of the Haramayn, for it is now a prison for any one seeking reform, or supporting the law of Shar`, when once, this land was a place of refuge for those oppressed. I ask him to give victory to Muslims in general, and the people of the Peninsula in particular, to give them victory over those who wronged them and to consider what we have been subject to, me and my brethren, as bounties in our favor on the day we meet Him. Amen.

Make Duas

your bro: Abu Al Muhand

Akbil Ya Mujahid : Live

2011-05-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

Ruling by KUFR is KUFR! – Ibn Taymiyyah

2011-05-11T09:37:00.001-07:00

Sheikh Al-Islam, Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah, Rahimahullah
Majmoo’ al Fatawa, 28/524:
“And it is known by necessity from the deen of the Muslims, and the agreement of all the Muslims, that whoever permits the following of a deen other than Islam or following a Shari’ah other than the Shari’ah of Muhammad (SALLAAHU ‘alahi wa sallam), then he is a kafir, and it is like the kufr of one who believes in part of the Book and disbelieves in part of the Book, as ALLAAH said (the meaning of which is):
«Indeed those who disbelieve in Allaah and His Messengers, and wish to distinguish between Allaah and His Messengers, and say we believe in some and disbelieve in some, and wish to take a way between that, all those are the kafiroon in truth, and WE have prepared for the kafireen a humiliating punishment. » An-Nisa’ 150-151 “
Majmoo’ al Fatawa : 28/544-545-546:
“Fighting the Tartars, those who came to the land of Shaam is wajib according to the Book and the Sunnah, for indeed ALLAAH said in the Qur’an (the meaning of which is) :
«And fight them until fitnah is no more, and the deen becomes all for ALLAAH» Al-Anfal:39.
And the deen means obedience, so if some of the deen belongs to ALLAAH and some to other than ALLAAH, fighting becomes wajib, until the deen becomes all for ALLAAH, and thus ALLAAH said (the meaning of which is):
«O You who believe, fear ALLAAH, and leave off what remains of riba (usury) if you are believers; if you do not do so, then take note of war from ALLAAH and HIS Messenger. » Al-Baqarah 278-279.
And this ayah was sent down concerning the people of Taa’if when they entered into Islam, and adhered to salah, siyam, but they refused to leave off riba, so ALLAAH declared that they are warriors against ALLAAH and HIS Messenger.
Then if it was wajib to make jihad against all these warriors against ALLAAH and HIS Messenger, what then of one who leaves many of the laws of Islam or most of them, like the Tartars ? And the ‘ulema of the Muslims have agreed that when a refusing faction (Taa’ifah Mumtani’ah) refuses some of the obligations of Islam openly without any doubt, then it is wajib to fight it; if they profess the Shahadatayn and refuse salah, or zakah, or siyam in the month of RamaDaan, or Hajj to the ancient house, or judging between them with the Book and the Sunnah, or prohibiting indecencies, or drinking, or marriage with close relatives (maHaarim), or make lives and wealth permissible without justice or riba (usury) or gambling, or jihad against the kuffaar, or imposing jizyah on the people of the book, and similar to that from the laws of Islam, then they are to be fought for that until the deen becomes all for ALLAAH.
And it is established in the two Saheehs when Omar debated with Abu Bakr about those who refused zakah, Abu Bakr said to him: ‘How can I not fight one who leaves the rights which ALLAAH and His Messenger have made obligatory, like zakah, even if they have accepted Islam ‘ And he said to him: ‘Indeed zakah is from its rights; by ALLAAH if they refuse me an inaq (rope for tying a camel) which they used give to the Messenger of ALLAAH (SALLAAHU ‘alaihi wa sallam) I will fight them for witholding it.’
Omar said: ‘Then there was none other except that I saw ALLAAH had expanded the breast of Abu Bakr to fight, and I knew that it was the truth.’
And it is established in the SaHeeH from more than one source that the Prophet (SALLAAHU ‘alaihi wa sallam) mentioned the khawarij, and said about them: ‘One of you would look down at his salah compared to their salah, and his siyam with their siyam, and his recitation with their recitation; they will recite the Qur’an but it will not travel beyond their throats, they will pass through Islam as an arrow passes through the game; wherever you find them, fight them, for indeed in their killing will be a reward from the ALLAAH for whoever kills them, on the day of Judgement. If I were to catch them, I would kill them like the killing of ‘Aad.’
And the salaf and Imams are in agreement upon the fighting of all these, and the first of those who fought them was ‘Ali bin Abi Taalib (Radi ALLAAHU ‘anhu), nor did the Muslims cease fighting them in the early period of the khilafah of Bani Umayyah and Bani ‘Abbas, even though with oppressive amirs- Hajjaj and his type were amongst those who fought them- thus all the Imams of the Muslims have ordered fighting them. And the Tartars and those similar to them, are greater in their departure from the Shari’ah of Islam than those who refused zakah, and the khawarij from the people of Taa’if, those who refused to leave off riba.
So whoever doubts in fighting them, then he is the most ignorant of people about the deen of Islam, and whenever it becomes wajib to fight them, fight them, even if they have with them those who have been forced, in accordance with the Muslims.”

What Negates Islam

2011-05-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

~ Chapter 8 of the Book, entitled: 'Al Wala' wa'l Bara' Authored by: Muhammad Sa'eed Al Qahtani ~

A Summary of What the 'Ulamaa Say

The 'Ulamaa have mentioned ten actions that negate Islam. These are:
First, associating other dieties with the worship of the One God Who has no partners. Allah (Ta'aala) says:

{Verily, Allah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners (in worship) with Him, but He forgives whom He Wills sins other than that...}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 4: Ayah 116)

Second, relying on an intermediary between oneself and Allah (Ta'aala) when seeking intercession.

Third, refusal to condemn the kufr of those who rely on other deities instead of Allah (Ta'aala), or doubting that they are disbelievers, or approving of their religion, is itself disbelief.

Fourth, belief that there is a more perfect guidance than that of the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam), or that there is a form of governance that is preferable to this, such as someone who prefers the rule of tyrants to that of the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam).

Fifth, dislike of any part of the Revelation, even though one may act upon it, is disbelief. Allah (Ta'aala) says:

{That is because they hate that which Allah has sent down (this Qur'an and Islamic Laws); so He has made their deeds fruitless.}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 47: Ayah 9)

Sixth, disparaging any part of the Deen or any aspect of reward or punishment:

{Say: 'Was it at Allah and His Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons signs, Revelations, etc.) and His Messenger that you were mocking?' Make no excuse; you have disbelieved after you had Believed.}(The Noble
Qur'an, Surah 9: Ayat 65-66)

Seventh, practising magic, either black or white, is proof of disbelief:
{...but the shayateen (devils) disbelieved, teaching men magic and such things that came down at Babylon to the two angels, Harut and Marut, but neither of these two (angels) taught anyone (such things) till they had said, 'We are only for trial, so disbelieve not (by learning this magic from us).'}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 2: Ayah 102)
Eighth, helping and assisting the disbelievers in overcoming the Muslims:

{And if any amongst you takes them (as Auliya' [friends, protectors, helpers]), then surely, he is one of them. Verily, Allah guides not those people who are dhaalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers and unjust).}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 5: Ayah 51)

Ninth, belief that it is not necessary to follow the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam), and that it is permitted to step outside the Law of Allah (Ta'aala), as al Khadir did when he exceeded what had been revealed to (Prophet) Musa ('alayhee salaam). This is disbelief.

Tenth, wilful neglect of Allah's Deen, neither learning it nor acting upon it. Allah (Ta'aala) says:

{And who does more wrong than he who is reminded of the Ayat of his Lord, then turns aside therefrom? Verily, We shall exact retribution from the mujrimun (criminals, disbelievers, polytheists, sinners).}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 32: Ayah 22)
No distinction is made as regards these actions in terms of intention, whether a person is joking or serious or even acts out of fear. The only excuse is compulsion. These ten actions are extremely dangerous and exceedingly common. Every Muslim should beware of them and feel a real fear in his heart of even drawing near them. (1)

We will now take a closer look [Insha' Allah] at two of these matters which are particularly relevant to our discussion, because of the significance and the proximity of the danger that they represent, and because this will clarify matters regarding political legitimacy, loyalty and opposition.

The first matter is the disbelief of someone who maintains that some other guidance is preferable to that of the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam), or that some system of governance other than that which he established is better:

Ruling by Other than What Allah has Revealed

The marginalisation of the Sharee'ah, its disappearance from the mainstream of Islamic life and its replacement by laws formulated by ignorant humans is a modern heresy that has arisen during the last few centuries of the life of our Community. This has happened despite the fact that Muslim societies had for centuries sheltered under the protection of the Sharee'ah, which provided for everyone's security, whether the governor or the governed. Although some people were disobedient, some more than others, nevertheless the guiding principle, both in public and private life alike, was provided by the Sharee'ah.

Similarly, the continuation of the Jihad, the pushing back of the frontiers of disbelief and the raising up of the Word of Allah (Subhannah wa Ta'aala) throughout the world, carried on over and above this.
Thus the charge that the Sharee'ah, that Islamic Law, is deficient, reactionary, and incompatible with progress in the modern world, is something that could not have been made until the rise of European colonialism and the resulting forgetfulness of the Muslims: they forgot Allah (Ta'aala) and so He made them forget their own souls.

We find, however, much guidance in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah that clearly speaks about the governance of the Community. This most surely constitutes a part of our Belief, and is one of the most essential elements of our 'Aqeedah.

Allah (Ta'aala) says:
{And whosoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, such are kafirun (disbelievers.)}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 5: Ayah 44)
and:

{And whosoever does not judge by that which Allah has revealed, such are the dhaalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers).}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 5: Ayah 45)
and:

{And whosoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed (then) such (people) are the fasiqun (the rebellious i.e. disobedient to Allah).}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 5: Ayah 47)

And He (Ta'aala) says:

{Do they then seek the judgment of (the days of) ignorance? And who is better in Judgement than Allah for a people who have firm Faith.}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 5: Ayah 50)
and:

{But no, by your Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make you (O Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission.}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 4: Ayah 65)
and:

{Or have they partners with Allah (false gods) who have instituted for them a religion which Allah has not ordained?}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 42: Ayah 21)

And He (Ta'aala) says in Surat an Nur:
{ They (hypocrites) say: 'We have believed in Allah and in the

Messenger, and we obey.', then a party of them turn away thereafter,
such are not Believers. And when they are called to Allah (i.e. His Words, the Qur'an) and His Messenger, to Judge between them, lo! a party of them refuses (to come) and turns away. But if the truth is on their side, they come to him willingly with submission. Is their a disease in their hearts? Or do they doubt or fear lest Allah and His Messenger should wrong them in Judgement. Nay, it is they themselves who are the dhaalimun (polytheists, hypocrites and wrong-doers). The onlysaying of the Faithful Believers, when they are called to Allah (His Words, the Qur'an) and His Messenger, to Judge between them, is that they say: 'We hear and we obey.' And such are the successful (who will live forever in Paradise).}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 24: Ayat 47-51)

And He (Ta'aala) says in Surat an Nisaa:

{And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger after the right Path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the Believers' Way, We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell - what an evil destination!}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 4: Ayah 115)

Then Allah (Ta'aala) exposes the claims of those who say they are Believers, but who prefer to be ruled by disbelievers:
{Have you seen those (hypocrites) who claim that they believe in that which has been sent down to you, and that which was sent down beforeyou, and they wish to go for judgement (in their disputes) to the taghut (false judges) while they have been ordered to reject them. But Shaytaan wishes to lead them far astray. And when it is said to them:

'Come to what Allah has sent down and to the Messenger',you see the
hypocrites turn away from you (O Muhammad) with aversion.}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 4: Ayat 60-61)

One of our 'Ulamaa summed this up nicely when he compared the person who wishes to substitute secular law for the Sharee'ah to a beetle that loves the smell of urine and faeces but hates the fragrance of roses and musk. (2)

And He (Ta'aala) says:
{Those who oppose Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), they will be among the lowest (most humiliated).}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 58: Ayah 20)

The worst form of dispute is to oppose Allah and His Messenger and to turn away from the Sharee'ah of Allah (Ta'aala), and the Sunnah of His Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam). The humiliation that the Muslims are today experiencing throughout the world is only a natural consequence of their having abandoned the Sharee'ah. Muslims today are numerous but they are like flotsam on a full tide. They have been seduced by the basest of nations and conquered by the most degenerate of people.
Indeed, the words of the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam), have come True: He (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam) said:
'These nations will call one another to invade you as people call one another to come and eat from one bowl.' Someone asked: 'Will it be because we are so few?' He (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam) replied: 'Indeed no, in these days you will be many but you will be like flotsam and jetsam on the sea, for Allah (Ta'aala) will strip fear of you from the breasts of your enemies and He will cast Al Wahn into you.' They said:'What is Al Wahn?' He (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam) said: 'Love of the world and a distaste for death.' (3)
A large part of the imbalance in Muslim life today is due to the handiwork of men who, disguised as scholars, have persuaded people to substitute human speculation for the Sharee'ah of Allah (Ta'aala). Surely they will carry the full burden of their actions, and also that of those whom they have led astray, until the Day of Resurrection. Islam will not be sullied by them. May Allah (Ta'aala) preserve the 'Ulamaa from among our rightly guided predecessors who guarded the gates of Islam so that none of its enemies could penetrate beyond them.
Ibn Katheer discusses the condition of the Muslim Nation in the days of the Tatars. Discussing in his tafseer the ayah: {Do they then seek the judgment of (the days of) ignorance? } (5: 50), he says,

'The Law of Allah (Ta'aala) encourages whatever is beneficial and discourages whatever is detrimental. Allah (Ta'aala) has rejected all who would depart from it, and who accept the views, opinions, and conventions determined by men without any support from the Sharee'ah.

This was done in the times of the Jahiliyyah, when people ruled by chance and blind conjecture in accordance with their own views and opinions.
So too do the Tatars rule, in accordance with their own royal policy, pronounced by their king Ghingis Khan, which they call the 'Yasaq'. This 'Yasaq' is a hotchpotch of all the rules and systems that he has come across, taken from the Jews and Christians and the Muslims, with many elements added which are based purely on his whims and fancies. This, the Tatars say, is the law of the land to which they give precedence, above the Book of Allah (Ta'aala) and the Sunnah of His Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam).

Whoever amongst them does this is a disbeliever who must be opposed until he returns to the Rule of Allah (Subhannah wa Ta'aala) and His Messenger (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam).

Such a person should not rule even for a day.' (4)

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Ibraheem Al ash Shaykh outlines the ways in which a ruler may commit the greater disbelief (Kufr ul Akbar) that takes a person out of Islam:

If the ruler who rules by other than the Revelation of Allah (Ta'aala) challenges the legal obligation to rule by the Sharee'ah then he is outside Islam. This is the meaning of what has been reported by at Tabari on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas (radiallaahu 'anhu), who said that there is no disagreement among the 'Ulamaa about someone who challenges the legitimacy of the Sharee'ah; that this is a fundamental point about which everyone agrees; and that anyone who challenges a fundamental point of
Belief - or even a secondary issue that all the 'Ulamaa are agreed about - or who denies any part of the Revelation out of hand, is a disbeliever and is not a part of this Community. (5)

If such a ruler does not challenge the legitimacy of the Sharee'ah, but believes that he rules by a better system of law than that which the Prophet (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam) observed, a system which in his opinion is more coherent and more suited to the needs of the people in the face of their changing needs and circumstances, then there can be no doubt that he too is a disbeliever. He has formulated a rule that can never compete with that of Allah (Subhannah wa Ta'aala). There is no issue whatsoever whose answer is not contained in the text of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, either explicitly or implicitly; whether or not a person knows this is a different matter.

If a ruler does not believe that what he has is better than the Sharee'ah, but still thinks that it is at least equal to it, then he is like the others. This is disbelief that takes him out of the Community, because it seeks to equate a creature with his Creator. This is also true if someone believes that a ruler has a right to deviate from the Sharee'ah in the way that the three types of rulers outlined above do.

It is even worse still when a person stubbornly supports his own rule in opposition to that of Allah (Ta'aala) and His Messenger (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam), aggrandising it at the expense of theSharee'ah. This is what modern secular rulers do, whose recourse is to French, British and American law, or to whatever else they please to choose from non-Muslim systems.

What could be greater disbelief than this? What could be more excessive than this in contradicting the declaration of Faith, 'There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger'? (6)
Finally, there is the disbelief of many chieftains of the tribes and clans of the Bedouins - and others like them - who cling to the tales of their ancestors, to their habits and traditions. These form a kind of inherited common law by which they rule themselves in preference to, and in spite of, the Revealed Law of Allah (Subhannah wa Ta'aala).

Then there is the type of disbelief that does not take one out of the Community, and which Ibn 'Abbas (radiallaahu 'anhu) termed 'a disbelief less than disbelief'. Thus someone who is overcome by his own desires in a particular situation may act contrary to the Sharee'ah, and yet still be aware that he is acting wrongly. He may later reproach himself for his error and failure to follow the guidance of Allah (Ta'aala). Even though this action does not take him out of the Community, it is still a very great sin, greater than fornication or drinking or theft. Allah (Ta'aala) has called this 'disbelief', so it is more grave than other wrong actions which have not been described in this fashion. (7)

It is because of the significance and importance of the matter that we have examined the subject of governance in detail. To ally oneself with a ruler who does not rule by what Allah (Subhannah wa Ta'aala) has revealed, to approve of his rule and the implementation of legislation under his authority - saying this is lawful, without the Permission of Allah (Ta'aala) - is a contradiction of the declaration of Faith. Allah (Ta'aala) is the only God, to whom all devotion from the heart is due, in love, and in awe, and in obedience, and in submission.

Such behaviour is a contradiction of the statement, 'Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah', since whoever truly believes this will follow what the Messenger (salallaahu 'alayhee wa sallam) has commanded and leave what he has forbidden and what he has criticised. If people only understood this fact then tyranny could not persist, nor could it establish disbelief and push the Sharee'ah of Allah (Ta'aala) to one side.

The second matter that should be considered in this context is the helping and assisting of the disbelievers against the Muslims.

Helping the disbelievers Against the Muslims
Allah (Subhannah wa Ta'aala) says:
{And if any amongst you takes them (the Jews and Christians, as Auliya' [friends, protectors, helpers]), then surely, he is one of them. Verily, Allah guides not those people who are dhaalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers and unjust).}(The Noble Qur'an, Surah 5: Ayah 51)
This is a major contradiction of the declaration of Faith into which many people today have fallen. They are nominally Muslims and still apparently within the fold of the Faithful. And yet, we have come to feel a certain embarrassment when it comes to calling a spade a spade, to saying to the supporters of kufr, 'You are disbelievers!'

Some people even see this as an impertinence in view of the wonder and awe, and the fear and anxiety, that they feel for the enemies of Allah (Subhannah wa Ta'aala). And so the matter of setting the pace, of setting an example, has given way under the weight of their feebleness of faith. They are dazzled by the enemies of Allah (Ta'aala) and long to be like them, even to the point that if they entered the hole of a lizard they would follow them into it.

Footnotes
1) Imam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab, Mu'alafat, 5/212-214.
2) Abi Hibbatu'llah Isma'il al Khateeb, Tadheer Ahl al Iman 'an al Hukm bighayri ma Anzala'r Rahman, in Rasa'il al Muniriya, 1/139.
3) Abu Dawud, Kitab al Malahim, 4/484, (4297); Mishkat al Masabih; also al Bayhaqi; al Albani classifies it as sahih.
4) Ibn Katheer, Tafseer, 3/123.
5) Tahkim al Qawanin, p.5.
6) ibid. p.7.
7) ibid. p.8.

Formatted and Edited by Abu Suhayb
Due to the inferiority of the original Qur'anic translations in this chapter - which was that of Muhammad Pickthall's - all translations of Qur'anic text have been changed to texts from the: 'The Noble Qur'an': A summarized Version of At-Tabari, Al Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir with comments from Sahih al Bukhari. Summarized in One Volume. Translation by Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Deen Al Hilali and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan.
Maktaba Dar-us- Salam: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1995

How Does The Heart Fast

2011-05-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

How does the Heart fast?

by Aa'id 'Abdullâh al-Qarnî

‘And if anyone believes in Allah, (Allah) guides his heart (aright)’ (64:11).

The guidance of the heart is the basis of all guidance, the law of all success, the origin of every deed and head of every action. The Prophet saws said:

‘Truly there is a piece of flesh in the body which, if it be wholesome, the whole body will be healthy and which, and if it be diseased the whole body will be diseased. Truly it is the heart.’
Thus the goodness of your heart is the guarantee of your happiness in this world and in the hereafter. Likewise, its corruption is the surest way to destruction, the extent of which only Allah knows.

‘In this, behold, there is indeed a reminder for everyone whose heart is wide-awake - that is [everyone who] lends ear with a conscious mind’ (50:37).

Every creature has a heart. In reality though they are two hearts, a heart that is alive and pulsating with the light of faith. It is filled with intense conviction and God-consciousness. The other is a dead heart, covered and diseased with every wreckage and rubbish.Allah Almighty says concerning the hearts of the foolish folk:

‘In their hearts is disease, and so God lets their disease increase’ (2:10).

‘But they say, “Our hearts are already full of knowledge.” Nay, but God has rejected them because of their refusal to acknowledge the truth: for, few are the things in which they believe’ (2:88).

Allah also says:

‘Will they not, then, ponder over this Quran? — or are there locks upon their hearts?’ (47:24).

‘And so they say, [as it were:] “Our hearts are veiled from whatever thou callest us to, [O Muhammad,] and in our ears is deafness”’ (41:5).

From all these verses we learn that the hearts can become ill, they can be covered, locked and they die. The enemies of Allah have hearts in their bosoms but they do not perceive with these hearts. Hence the Prophet saws used to say:

‘O dispenser of hearts make my heart firm in Your religion.’
The heart of the believer fasts during Ramadan and outside of Ramadan. The fasting of the heart is done by emptying it of all corrupt material such as destructive forms of polytheism, false beliefs, evil suggestions, filthy intentions and degenerate thoughts. The heart of the believer is adorned with the love of Allah. It knows its Lord by His names and His qualities as He has described Himself. This heart explores with a discerning eye the lines of His names and qualities and the pages of Allah’s making in the universe and the books of His creations.The believer’s heart is filled with a brilliant light which does not allow any darkness to remain with it. It is the light of the eternal message, the divine teachings, and the omnipotent laws. To it is added the natural light upon which the servants of Allah were created. Thus two great lights come together

. ‘Light upon light! God guides unto His light him that wills [to be guided]; and [to this end] God propounds parables unto men, since God [alone] has full knowledge of all things’ (24:36).

The believer’s heart glows like a lamp, shines like the sun and sparkles like the morning light. It increases in faith whenever the believer listens to the verses of the Quran, it grows in conviction when it contemplates, and increases in guidance when it reflects. The believer’s heart abstains from pride because it breaks its fast. Pride does not reside in the heart of a believer because it is unlawful. The abode and dwelling place of pride is the heart. Hence, if it enters any heart, that person will become afflicted, foolish, arrogant and frivolous.Allah Almighty says in a hadith Qudsi:

‘Pride is my upper garment and grandeur is my lower one, whoever contests with me for them I will punish him.’
The Prophet saws himself said:

‘Whoever shows arrogance to Allah, He will humble him, and whoever is humble to Allah, He will raise him in station.’
The heart of the believer fasts and abstains from egotism. Egotism is when the individual sees himself as perfect, better than others and in possession of good qualities that are not found in anyone else. This is destruction in its most naked form. The Prophet saws said:

‘Three things which are totally destructive: a person’s self-centredness and conceit, his reluctance to obey and his following of his desires.’
The cure for this self-importance is to look at one’s own faults, one’s many shortcomings, thousands of sins and misdeeds that one has committed, wrongs that one has done and forgotten but the knowledge of which are with Allah in a book. For Allah is not led astray nor does He forget.The heart of the believer fasts and abstains from envy because it lowers righteous deeds, puts out the light of the heart and stops its progress toward Allah the Most High. Allah says in the Glorious Quran:

‘Do they, perchance, envy other people for what God has granted them out of his bounty? (4:54).

And the Prophet saws said:

‘Do not envy one another; do not inflate prices one to another; do not hate one another; do not turn away from one another; and do not undercut one another.’
The Prophet informed one of his companions three times that he would be among the people of Paradise. When he was asked about what was it that earned him a place in Paradise, the man said:

‘I do not sleep with envy, grudge or deceit in my heart for any Muslim.’
Are there any hearts that would, therefore, fast like the learned. The fast of the learned has a yearning for the Most Merciful Lord of the worlds. Their hearts fast at all times and in the early hours of morning they seek forgiveness
.
O Allah guide our hearts to the straight path and make it firm on faith, O Lord of the worlds.

Taken from the Book: Thirty Lessons for those who Fast PDF

Open Letter to Shaykh Bin Baz on the Invalidity of his Fatwa on Peace with the Jews

2011-05-10T14:05:00.000-07:00

Open Letter to Shaykh Bin Baz on the Invalidity of his Fatwa on Peace with the Jewsby Osama bin Laden
Written December 29, 1994 while bin Laden was in the Sudan.
Translated by the CTC at West Point Military Academy; minor errors that resulted in poor English, at the fault of the translators themselves, have been corrected to prevent giving an unfairly skewed view of the author.
:Dear Shaykh 'Abd-al-Aziz bin Baz (May God have mercy on him):
Peace be upon you, and God's mercy and blessings. We praise God who sent down the book of clear verses, and who raises up those who bring knowledge. God who makes with them a pact to execute truth and its proof, and who warns them against using it to deceive, or concealing it. Prayers and peace be ypon our master Muhammad who said "The best Jihad is the word of truth in the presence of the unjust Sultan." (A sound Hadith which Imam Ahmad al-Tabarani, Ibn Majah and al-Bayhaqi related).
It is well known to you how God has granted to the People of Knowledge a great place and given them an honourable position.
It is no wonder that the Ulema are the heirs of the prophets and that this religion has been bequeathed to them. They kept from it the distortion of the stupid, the plagarism of the liars, the interpretation of the ignorant and the dilution of the profligate tyrants. They represent the good example and ideal model for the Ummah in taking up the burden of victory for truth and arousing it for high standards.
The true Ulema of the pious ancestors of this Ummah, and their good successors undertook this mission. What was the position of Sa'id bin Jubayr in the face of the tyranny of al-Hajjaj but to proclaim the truth? Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal challenged the tyranny of the rulers and the sultan, and he endured the discord over the creation of the Quran. Was not Ibn Taymiyah and his suffering in prison a victory for the Sunnah and a model for carrying out the duty of helping the truth and its people. These learned Imams made truth triumph and were zealous for the religion. May God have mercy on all of them.
Dear Shaykh: We want to reiterate our previous admonishments about your duty towards the religion, reminding you of your great responsibility, for remembrance benefits believers. We want to remind you at this time in which the liar struts about, and evil prattlers make noise, and the truth is buried alive, and preachers imprisoned and reformers silenced. It is strange that you do not know of this and are silent, especially since your Fatwas and positions have dealt with these matters. We remind you, dear Shaykh, of some of these Fatwas and positions to which you do not pay attention, although the Ummah has persisted for a long time in error, in order that you perceive with us even partially something of the danger of this matter and the bad effects resulting from it.
Some examples for you:
1. No one can be unaware of the extent to which tremendous corruption has spread, including all aspects of life, so that various abominations of which likewise no one can be unaware are diffused everwhere. The advisory notice that the elite Ulema and the preachers of reform presented gave details of this. The most dangerous thing they revealed was the attribution of partners to God represented in legislation and the introduction of positive laws that make forbidden things permissible. Among their most abominable acts is allowing the practice of usury, which is spreading throughout the land. This is done through state institutions and their usurious banks whose towers crowd out the Minarets of the two holy places and the length and breadth of the country swarms with them.
It must be well-known that the organizations and usury laws under which these banks and institutions conduct business are legitimsed by the ruling regime, and authorised by it. Still, all we have heard from you is that usury is haram! You end up deceiving the people by not making a distinction between rulers who merely tolerate usury and rulers who legitimise and legalise usury.
The distinction between the two is very clear. He who tolerates usury is committing one of the greatest of mortal sins. As for one who legitimises interest, he is an apostate and infidel who thereby departs from the religion, because he makes himself an equal to God and a partner with him in allowing and disallowing. We go into further detail in a future study that will be published soon, God willing.
God and his messenger have proclaimed war against the one who tolerates usury without putting an end to it. "If you do it not, take notice of war from God and his Messenger"
Yet we continue to hear your expressions of praise and commendation for this regime which is not satisfied merely with tolerating usury, but has legitimised, legalised and permitted it. He, may God bless him and grant him peace, said "Usury is seventy three doors the least of which is like a man marrying his mother.", sound, al-Hakim related it.
Ibn 'Abbas, may God be pleased with him, said "He who lives upon usury, and continues to do, it is the duty of the Imam of the Muslims to call him to repentance. If he ceases, do not behead him." (Related from Jarir, going back to Ibn 'Abbas). This applies to whoever tolerates interest. What can you say about someone legitimises interest and makes it halal.
The country is struggling through economic and political crises, and crimes of various sorts are incredibly widespread. This can only be a punishment from God and part of the war he, praise him, has declared upon those who will not end their tolerance of usury and similar abominations, and eliminate it, for he has ruled against interest. "God will deprive blessings for usury but will give increase for deeds of blessing."
2. When the king hung the cross upon his chest[1] and appeared with it before the world, happy and smiling, you justified his action and permitted him his abomination, and permitted him although this act is clearly infidelity. This is plain from the condition of the one who did it freely.
3. When the attacking Crusader and the Jewish Alliance - in collusion with the regime - decided in the Gulf War to occupy the country in the name of liberating Kuwait, you allowed this with an arbitrary Fatwa which justified this abominable action. This insulted the honour of the Ummah, sullied its dignity, and defiled its holy places, on the grounds of assisting the infidel in a case of necessity, disregarding the restrictions on assistance and the rules on necessity expressed in Islamic law.
4. When the ruling Saudi regime aided and supported the chiefs of Communist, Socialist apostasy in Yemen against the Muslim Yemeni people in the recent war, you kept silent. When these Communists suffered setbacks, you issued - on the recommendation of this regime - a word of advice! Summoning everyone to reconcile and shake hands, considering them all Muslims! Making people think that the Communists are Muslims means sparing their blood. When were the Communists ever Muslims? Aren't you the one who previously issued a Fatwa on their apostasy and the necessity of killing them in Afghanistan? Or is there a difference between Yemeni Communists and Afghan Communists? Are the concepts of the faith and the precepts of Tawhid lost and confused to this extent?
The ruling regime continues to lodge these infidel nations in different cities of the country. We have not heard you disapproving. He, may God bless him and grant him peace, said "God curses those who shelter an innovator." Muslim relates it.
5. When the regime decided to attack Shaykh Salman al-'Awdah and Shaykh Safar al-Hawali who proclaimed the truth and suffered for the sake of God, it obtained a Fatwa from you allowing all - the attacks and maltreatment to which the two Shaykhs and the preachers, Shaykhs and youth of the Ummah had been subjected. May God release them and save from them the wrong of the wrongdoers.
There are some other examples that we did not intend to omit, but it would take too much space to mention them. We have in our hands your recent Fatwa about something called slandering peace with the Jews. This is painful to Muslims, since you responded to the political wish of the regime which decided to present to the public a comedy of surrender to the Jews it had previously entered into. Therefore, you issued a Fatwa allowing peace both unrestrictedly and conditionally with the enemy. Who are the Prime Minister of the Zionist enemy and his parliamet that they can be dealt with, and praised, when the Saudi regime announced the result of its intention for further normalisation with the enemy?
It is as if you were not content to open up the land of the Two Holy Places to the Jewish and Crusader occupation forces. You added a third Holy Place[2] by giving a veneer of legitimacy to the surrender documents that the treacherous and cowardly Arab tyrants signed.
These words are a great danger, and a general calamity in that they deceive people and mislead the Ummah in a number of ways, including:
(1) The present Jewish enemy is not an enemy dwelling in his original country, warred on from outside so that peace is permitted with him. Rather he is an enemy desacrating honour and usurping sacred Muslim land which God blessed, and which the Companions irrigated with their blameless blood. They are an attacking enemy, one which corrupts religion and the world.
The words of Shaykh-al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, may God have mercy on him, are appropriate. "The attacking enemy who corrupts the religion and the world must, in keeping with the faith, be repelled. There are no limiting conditions. Rather he must be repelled if at all possible." The Ulema, our Companions, and others have stipulated this."[3]
It is religiously required toward Palestine and our oppressed Palestinian brothers, men, women and children who are not able to escape and are not guided. It is Jihad in the way of God, and urging the Ummah to it until Palestine is liberated completely, and returns to Muslim control.
Such Fatwas that forsake Jihad and incline towards the ground dispense with Palestine. These Fatwas acknowledge the enemy's occupation of the holiest of holy places, after the two noble holy places. These Fatwas also apply a veneer of legitimacy to the occupation and forcibly support the efforts of the enemy to strike Islamic efforts that seek to liberate Palestine through Jihad. The operation of the stone-throwing heroes and the Muslim youth of Jihad in Palestine is the only useful way to confront the enemy and guarantee the liberation of Palestine, God willing.
Here we remind you of your previous Fatwas in this regard. When you were asked about the way to liberate Palestine, you said, "I think that it is not possible to solve this issue except by considering it an Islamic issue, and by Muslims standing shoulder-to-shoulder to rescue it. Jihad against the Jews is a Muslim Jihad until the land is returned to its people, and until these Jewish foreigners return to their country."[4]
(2) Assuming that this Jewish enemy is an enemy with whom peace may be made, and there are conditions for it, should the false alleged peace that tyrannical, defeatist governments and organisations make with the Jews be considered a peace which can be made with the enemy?
Everyone is aware that this is not the case. This alleged peace which broken-down rulers and tyrants have stumbled into with the Jews is nothing but a grand betrayal. This is represented in the signing of the surrender documents and the surrender of Jerusalem and all of Palestine by these governments to the Jews, and the recognition of their perpetual control over them.
(3) These apostate rulers who wage war on God and his Messenger have neither legitimacy, nor sovereignty over Muslims. This contrasts with your well-known past declarations that they are infidels. The elite Ulema and preachers have made this clear to you in their earnest appeals to you in the past to refrain from this Fatwa. We will attach a copy of this appeal to remind you and make you aware.
Your Fatwa deceived people with its disgraceful summary and misleading generalization. The Fatwa did not correctly deal with a a just peace, let alone this false peace with the Jews which is a major betrayal of Islam and Muslims. Even an ordinary Muslim would not allow this false peace, let alone a scholar like you who is supposed to be vigilant for the religion and the Ummah.
For any Fatwa that deals with great and serious matters, it is necessary for the Ummah to have knowledge of it in all its dimensions, including the harm and danger which might result. This knowledge is an indispensable part of the conditions for a Fatwa. Imam Ibn al-Qayyim - may God have mercy on him - says "Neither a Mufti nor a judge can reach a correct ruling without two kinds of understanding. The first is understanding of the situation and how jurisprudence relates to it, and learning the facts of what is happening, by evidence, signs, and indications until he comprehends it. The second thing is understanding of the obligation, which is understanding of God's decree by which it is ordained in his book or upon the tongue of his Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace. Then he applies one to the other". A. H.[5]
Since these conditions are necessary for a Fatwa in general, it is certainly so for a Fatwa related to Jihad and peace and the like. Imam Ibn Taymiyah - may God have mercy on him - says "Obligation is to be considered in matters of Jihad according to the opinion of upright men of religion who have experience in what people of this world do, rather than those who mainly look at a matter from the viewpoint of religion. Do not adopt their opinion - not the opinion of religious men who have no experience in the world." A.H. [6]
If the previous Fatwas were issued by someone other than you, let it be said that whoever issued it did so on false pretenses. But if it was issued by you, deficiencies due to gaps in your Sharia knowledge are not the cause of faults in it, but rather a lack of awareness of the true nature of the situation, and of the effects of such Fatwas. If the Fatwa at that time did not take into account the condition, then it was not correct to issue it. This requires the Mufti then to void the Fatwa or transfer it to specialists with knowledge of Sharia, and of the facts of the situation. It is clear that Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal did not proceed with many questions as did Imam Malik when he was asked about readings, he turned to Imam Nafi', may God have mercy on all of them.
Dear Shaykh, our great concern for the condition of the Ummah and Ulema like you is that which impels us to remind you that we consider you and those like you to be above being exploited by the ruling regime so detestably. They threw you into the face of every preacher and reformer. Your Fatwas and positions silenced every word of truth and true Dawah. Our reply was also discussed by the "Advisory", the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights, and others.
Dear Shaykh, you are advanced in years and you were skilled in the service of Islam previously. Fear God and keep your distance from these tyrants and wrongdoers who have proclaimed war on God and his Messenger. Be with the speakers of truth. You have in the pious ancestors of the Ummah and their righteous successors a good example. Among the most prominent characteristics of the true Ulema was keeping distant from Sultans. Imam Abu Hanifah - may God have mercy on him - and others fled from working with the rulers of their age despite the rulers' great probity in religion when compared with the rulers of today, who do not conceal the corruption of their religion and their evil condition. In our time, when the learned Shaykh 'Abdallah bin Hamid - may God have mercy on him - perceived the danger of the path along which the ruling Saudi government was proceeding, and the danger and harm attendant upon it for anyone who participated or became mixed up in it. He immediately escaped with his religion and resigned from the Presidency of the Supreme Court. Imam al-Khatabi - may God have mercy on him - said concerning calling on these rulers, "I wish I knew who calls upon them today and does not correct their lies and who speaks of justice when he sees their councils and who gives andvice and is advised by them?"[7] An authentic hadith states "Who comes to the door of the Sultan is subject to temptation". Beware, dear Shaykh, of inclining to these people in word or deed, "And do not incline to those who are unjust, lest the fire touch you and you have no guardians besides God, then you shall not be helped."
Those who could not proclaim the truth and speak it openly, are not less than those who refrain from speaking other than the truth. He, may God bless him and grant him peace, said "He who believes in God and the last day, let him speak good or let him be silent". (al-Buhayri related it)
Finally we ask that you do find in yourself these words and consider them polite advice. Do not require them to be made secret and not announced.[8] The problem is that there are serious faults, some of them great,[9] for which silence is not allowed nor is disregard permitted.
What we have mentioned to you is well known to the people of knowledge. The elite Ulema and preachers of the Ummah have previously made you aware of this when they presented to you with numerous urgent appeals in this regard. This includes their appeal to you a while ago to refrain from issuing a Fatwa permitting this alleged surrender peace with the Jews, pointing out that it does not fulfill the condition required under Islamic law. They warned of the numerous religious and worldly dangers as a consequence of it. Among the signatories of this urgent appeal were the esteemed Shaykhs 'Abdallah bin 'Abd al-Rahman bin Jabrin, 'Abdallah bin Hasan al-Qu'ud, Hamud bin 'Abdallah al-Tuwayjiri (may God have mercy on him), Hamud bin 'Abdallah al-Shu'aybi, 'Abd al-Rahman bin Nasir al-Barrak, Salman al-Awdah, Ibrahim bin Salih al-Khudayri, 'Abd al-Wahha al-Nasir al-Turayir, Ibrahim bin Muhammad al-Dubian, 'Abdallah bin Hamud al-Tuwayjiri, 'Abdallah al-Jalali, 'A'id al-Qarni and other great men, may God keep them all. You will find the text of their urgent appeal with this letter, God willing.
In the recent Yemen War when the previously mentioned statement was issued by you, fifteen Ulema issued a Fatwa opposing it, explaining the Shari'ah justification in this matter. Among these esteemed Ulema were: "Abdallah bin Sulayman al-Mas'ari, Hamud bin 'Abdallah al-Shu'aybe, 'Abdallah al-Jalali, Salman al-Awdah, Dr. Safar al-Hawali, Dr. Nasir al-'Umar, Yahya bin 'Abd-al-Aziz al-Yahya, Dr. 'Abdallah bin Hammud alTuway jiri and other great men, may God keep them all.
In conclusion, we ask God, may he be blessed and exalted, to show us the truth as truth, and give us the grace to follow it. Show us falsehood to be falsehood, and give us the grace to avoid it. May he establish for this Ummah guidance by which people who submit to him may be honoured and the people who disobey him be debased. May the good be commanded and the bad forbidden. May deception come to an end, and may they be ruled with justice and speaking the truth openly. May the rippling flag of Jihad be raised high so that the Ummah may restore its honour and dignity. May the flag of unity be raised above all the stolen land of Islam beginning with Palestine and continuing to Andalusia, and other lands of Islam lost due to the treachery of rulers and helplessness of Muslims.
We also ask God to look over us and keep evil from us. We ask him to help us to speak correctly and to do right, and to succeed in doing what he loves and what pleases him so that we may be satisfied in life and come to a good end in death. He controls this and has the power to do it. Finally we pray, "Praise be to God, the Lord of Worlds".
Dated: 27/7/1415 AH
On their behalf,
Usamah bin Muhammad bin Ladin
[edit] Notes
↑ During an event with the British Royal Family, King Fahd was seen wearing a white decoration in the shape of a cross
↑ Jerusalem
↑ Juridical Selections, pp 209-210
↑ The Collected Fatwas of Shaykh 'Abd-al-Aziz bin Baz, 1/281
↑ Teaching of Signers, 87/1
↑ Juridical Selections, pp. 211
↑ Book of Seclusion
↑ This is a bit of Arabic wordplay, "Do not require them to be israr, and not ishhar"
↑ More Arabic wordplay, "There are khatir faults, some of them kabir".
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Open Letter to Bush : Al Hawali

2011-05-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to President Bush
By Safar ibn Abdur-Rahmân al-Hawâlî
15 October, 2001
Mr. President:

I am writing this letter to you in hope that it will be taken into account without regard to the faith of its writer, or the colour of his skin, and despite your new division of the children of Adam into the civilized who support all your views, and the barbarians who do not.
Perhaps this letter is strange to you, as I write to you as one of the heirs of the prophets, and the prophets, as we know, used to address the tyrants of the earth in the hope that they might repent and fear the Lord of all the worlds. Thus did Moses –peace be upon him- address Pharaoh, Haman, and Karun, and thus did Jesus –peace be upon him- address the Romans and the High Priest of the Jews, and thus did Muhammad - peace and blessings be upon him- address Abu Jahl in Makkah, as well as the Roman Emperor Heraclius and the Persian Emperor Khosraw. It is not necessary for the recipient to listen to or acknowledge the messenger, but it is merely his duty to convey the message.

I write to you as a member of an oppressed and persecuted community in a condition like that of Jesus when he was persecuted by the Jews on one side, and Romans on the other side. It is regrettable that the United States, a nation founded by immigrants fleeing persecution, has taken for itself the position of the Roman Empire which persecuted the followers of Christ –peace be upon him- and colluded– with the enemies of faith (the unbelievers of the children of Israel) to slay the prophets and messengers, and to slay their followers in all times and places. At that time the Roman Empire claimed to be the symbol of freedom and civilized values, just as you claimed referred to America in your first statement after the incidents of September 11.It was the greatest world power of its day, the heir of Greek civilization. It had a Senate and a façade of democracy. The Roman citizen had freedom of religion and personal behavior. All this made it superior to other Empires throughout the world, and yet history does not speak well of this Empire because of the repulsive crime with which it stained its reputation: the persecution of the Christians. For this reason that Great Power lost its valuable distinctions when it oppressed a group of believers in God: Who alone possesses absolute power, absolute might, and absolute justice, Who is Mighty in His punishment which He withholds for the oppressor for awhile, but Who one day takes vengeance against him.

Indeed, that is what He did. The Northern Barbarians overpowered Rome and destroyed it, They burned its cultural symbols and shattered its arrogance at the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian era. Two centuries later, God caused the followers of the final Prophet Muhammad –God’s blessing and peace be upon him- to inherit the Holy Land in which Christ –peace be upon him- had lived. This was a tremendous victory for Christ since the Islamic Faith which conquered and liberated most of the known world from despotism and persecution, and filled it with mercy and justice, manifested for mankind the greatness of Christ –peace be upon him- and the truth of Christ’s message, as well as the merit of his disciples and their followers as was revealed in detail in the Holy Qur’an.

The Islamic community considered itself to be the final link in the long chain of followers of the prophets which began with Abraham, and included Moses and Jesus –peace be upon them- and declared to all the world that the enemies of Christ –peace be upon him- are the enemies of freedom and lofty values, especially the Jews, regardless of whether they denied Christ and incited the Romans against him, or whether they pretended to follow him so as to distort his message as did Saul who is called ‘Paul.’ The amazing thing is that the peoples who tasted the affliction of Roman tyranny and arrogance rejoiced at the destruction of Rome and wondered at the actions of the ‘Northern Barbarians” who did it, despite the fact that they did not know or like them, yet how much more so would it have been if –for example- Rome had been attacked by the oppressed Christians? Would anyone have ventured to blame the Christians if they rejoiced or sympathized with the attackers?

Mr. President, we Muslims are a nation of justice. At the same time our ethics do not allow us to rejoice over the misfortunes of the afflicted, yet we would still hope that the United States would review its stand and be more fair, so that we might once again give the benefit of the doubt to the United States for which there are precedents that encourage this hope, and which demonstrate how we used to move two steps towards them for every step of theirs, and a mile for every move of theirs. When President Wilson announced his fourteen points at the end of World War I, and especially the right of self-determination of peoples, it was greeted by the Islamic world as a just position towards European Colonialism that dominated most of its peoples. The Muslims rejoiced at a voice from among the Christian nations themselves saying that the time had come for an end to racial discrimination and crusader campaigns –such as the one led by General Allenby. Thus, the Islamic peoples hastened to place their complete trust in this neutral nation (the United States of America) and the United States profited greatly from this, since besides the moral distinctions it earned, it also achieved the greatest economic advantages in history. Their trust was not shaken even by its unjust position concerning the establishment of the Jewish state and the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination, but the Islamic peoples clung to their hope that that policy was simply an error that might be rectified. Similarly, President Eisenhower’s position towards the three-party aggression against Egypt was one of the biggest factors that encouraged the continuation of the benefit of the doubt for America and the refusal to listen to the claims of the communists –which were not entirely false.

However, the trust in America and its justice was rapidly shaken and then declined to the ground because of America’s own behavior which came in the form of one proof after another which permanently refuted the benefit of the doubt.

Perhaps the first of these absolute proofs was the actions of President Nixon and his Secretary of State Kissinger during and after the Ramadhan (October) War of 1973, then your father, President Bush whose duplicity of standards were obvious to everybody. Iraq violated the same or fewer international agreements then those that Israel has and continues to violate. Iraq’s excuse in doing so was similar to those used by America to incorporate Texas into its territory. As for Israel’s excuse for occupying Palestine, it is worse than the British justification for keeping America as a British colony, and more repulsive than your ancestor’s excuse for the genocide of the American Indian!

It is this contradictory position which compelled the Islamic peoples to attend demonstrations by the millions in support of a dictator whom none of them had previously liked. Then came President Clinton and his Jewish administration. He was more concerned than either yourself or your father with finding a solution for the problem but he followed the same wrong road; describing the horrible terrorist attack on the Abraham Mosque in Hebron as no more than a “crime.” You and he both know that up until now there has never been a Palestinian attack on any Jewish place of worship, and when the terrorist attack occurred in Cana he was not ashamed to describe it as “an unintentional mistake done by the Israelis in self-defense,” Yet when Israel was faced with bombings, he gathered all the World and Arab leaders at the Sharm al-Shaykh conference so that they could all condemn “terrorism” ignoring the continuous barbaric massacres and the long chain of tragedies which the Israelis have brought upon the Palestinians and Arabs, which were not described at all. This caused the Islamic peoples to dissociate from America in view of the fact that it dictated to the attendees what Israel wanted, and from their governments in view of the fact that they yielded to the American administration. They turned with all their suffering and hopes to the groups described as terrorist without any concern about that description, since the conference taught them a good lesson in understanding the terminology of the American double standard: that when America decides that someone is a terrorist or an extremist it places them in the position of legendary heroes in the eyes of the oppressed and the wretched who need some airing after their long defeat and subservience, and as Claes (former Secretary General of NATO) officially informed them that the alliance had placed Islam as the focus of its enmity in place of the former Soviet Union. There is no need for additional practical proofs after this unique title, proofs which arrive daily from everywhere from the Philippines, Timor, Kashmir, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Sudan, and many other places –except that what occurred in Palestine after the defiling of the Aqsa Mosque by the greatest terrorist criminal of this age: Sharon, outweighed all the others.
It was your misfortune after your difficult election victory to be contemporaneous with that criminal, and to continue your eternal strategic alliance with him.

We Muslims desired to see you elected and we have proof that the votes which gave you victory were our votes, and I personally advised Muslims to vote for you. Some of them hoped that you would be fairer than the Democrats although others clearly stated that the matter was no more than choosing the lesser of two evils. We did not do that out of forgetfulness of the crimes of your party and your father throughout the Muslim World, but because we are a nation of justice and reason we held back our feelings and made the choice which we felt was best for us and for America also. We hoped that you would repay good with good, but you did the complete opposite by increasing your predecessor’s material and political support of Zionist terrorism in the form which has occurred and continues to occur. Bewildered questions were repeated on the lips of everyone in the Islamic Word: Does the American administration have a conscience? Does this biased stance which has dismayed the entire world have any justification and will it ever end? Is America Greater Israel or is Israel Lesser America?

In the midst of this continuous confusion and frustration, the events of the 11th of September occurred. I will not conceal from you that a tremendous wave of joy accompanied the shock that was felt by the Muslim in the street and whoever tells you otherwise is avoiding the truth. It is my opinion that America which believes in freedom and democracy -as you repeat in your speeches- should not become upset by this one-time joy, and should not seize upon the Muslim’s spontaneous outpouring of feeling. This nation, which worships God and believes in justice more than any nation on earth, did not do that out of racist enmity or evil intent, but they were joined in this by the entire world: the world that kicked you out of the Organization for Human Rights. 3000 popular organizations mobilized against you at the Durban conference. More than forty nations suffer from your oppressive boycotts and economic penalties, let alone from your military incursions. Even the environment has identified you before the world as its greatest enemy.

People’s shock at your first speech was greater than their shock at the event itself. It totally equated America with freedom, justice and noble values, and it contained a harsh threat of vengeance rather than a promise of fair cooperation. We tried to excuse you because of the shock of the events and the need to absorb popular anger, but all of your statements as well as your actions have been of the same mode and have severed any other possibility.

Reckless accusations and hasty revenge are the real tragedy for America, and the true test of its values and civilization. Your security apparatus –which had boasted that it could catch a fly passing over the Pentagon and that it would no about a riot among the Eskimos before it occurred- rushed to the nearest flight school and the nearest hotel and took down the name of every Arab or Muslim student or resident and announced that they are the terrorists!

Imagine Mr.President, if you were sitting among your family or tribe thousands of miles away and heard or saw the news that you had been part of a suicide operation on a plane? or that it was done by your brother who had died a year ago? Wouldn’t you thank God that you were not a citizen of that civilized country or a believer in their so-called values and justice? Especially when your very civilized people answered these calls of yours, your cabinet members, and your security apparatus and started to attack the barbarian invaders in every free and civilized part of your country. I and the people of my country have discovered how barbaric were are when a gang of Westerners –I will not call them terrorists since they have white skin and blue eyes- performed a series of explosions in our cities, we watched as they gave their serious confessions, and yet we made not the smallest move to attack any Western person in any place in our country, we did not kill them, or strip search them in our airports, nor did we place them in solitary confinement, let alone incite the whole world to form an alliance against them. No, we did nothing of that which your civilized people have done to our children and Muslim brothers in general.

What caused us to behave in this manner is our religion and ethics, for which gift we thank God. At this point I would like to ask you Mr. President, if the world chose you to give a prize for the people with the most advanced morals and values, and the best treatment of others, which of the two peoples would you give the prize? To your people or to ours?

Does this mean that we bear ill will toward the American people for that we are racist in our treatment of them? No. Never. We believe that the American people in general have such good attributes that they are the closest of all Western peoples to us, and the most deserving of all of them of our desire for them to achieve good in this life and in the hereafter. They are a people the majority of whom believe in the existence of God, and who donate to charitable work more than any other people in the world (and by that we do not mean the evangelization of the Muslims).
The truest proof of the goodness of the American people is that they have embraced Islam more quickly and in greater numbers than other peoples of the world, and have tried to understand it better even after you held the Muslims responsible for the disaster without evidence.

We desire all good and honor for a people like this from the bottom of our hearts, and good and honor are only achieved by any people by one of two things:

1- Embracing God’s Faith which is alone acceptable to Him, the Faith of all the prophets: Islam. By doing this Allah grants them both the good of this world and that of the next world.

2- Making peace with the Muslims, loving them, and treating them kindly. By doing this Allah rewards them security and good in this world.
This Islamic nation, the followers of Abraham and Muhammad –God’s blessing and peace be upon him- is dearest to God of all nations. Whoever honors them is honored by God, and whoever despises them is despised by God, though He may grant them respite for a time. History is a witness to this.

You may say, or others may have said on your behalf, “I have apologized for using the term ‘crusade’, I have visited the Islamic Center, and I have advice the people to control themselves,” but we say, “We are used to America to inflict deep wounds and then putting a small bandage on them, but your present attack on Afghanistan has violently removed those bandages and opened a wound in the heart of every Muslim.

Mr. President, if only when you did what you did, you had avoided the racist terminology of your speeches about hostile action. It would have been enough for you to simply claim the right -with no need for justification- treat the world any way you want, and to punish whomever you want, whenever you want. But then you had to go on and leave the desire for revenge open without any end in sight when you said “ Today we will concentrate on Afghanistan, but the battle is wider than that.” Is it not enough for you to destroy a whole nation because of an unproven accusation against a single person or organization forced to live in that country? Is this hostility which exceeds all values and morals, and shakes every living conscience in the world only a drop in the sea of your vengeance?

Did Christ –peace be upon him- grant you that power? Far be it for him to do that. Even Machiavelli himself does not grant you that degree of power. Your precedent in this is Samson. Won’t you fear God –you who have made your slogan to be “God bless America?” How can God bless and protect her when Christ His Messenger taught exactly the opposite of what you do: “Whoever strikes you on your right cheek, then turn to him your left cheek. Whoever takes from you your garment, then give him also your cloak. And whoever mocks you for a mile, go with him for two miles.”

Do you not understand that when you make the desire for endless vengeance to be the attribute of the civilized nation, you make Christ –peace be upon him- to be an uncivilized barbarian? Far be it for him, but you have rejected God and Christ, and followed the behavior of the Popes of the Middle Ages who used to grant indulgences and excommunication according to their whims. You have granted an everlasting pardon to yourselves and to the Zionist State, and to every hostile tyrant, and you have issued an excommunication for anyone who hesitates to join your endless hostility by describing them as terrorists or supporters of terrorism.

You search with microscopes for so-called terrorist groups in Somalia which has been destroyed by poverty, or in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon whose humble dwellings are threatened by Zionist terrorism every day. But you forget that horrible terrorism tangibly dwells among you. It is you, and nothing but you. If you do not believe this then tell me by God, if your best friend comes to congratulate you in ten years on the victory you hope to achieve over the mysterious enemy you have fabricated, what will he be able to congratulate you about? Supposing that he says, “Mr. President, we have killed one million Afghanis, one million Iraqis, one million of this and that,” until the end of your cursed list, will that be a victory for civilization, lofty values, freedom and democracy? Certainly among your victims will be starving, naked widows and children. Will that satisfy your desire for vengeance? Shamelessly, you will use the fact that they are alive as evidence that you limited yourselves to the destruction of their mud houses and wooden huts as strategic targets of the smart bombs of your clean war that do not kill people.

At this point the world that you have made depressed and sad for as long as God wills, will finally laugh. Yes, they will be forced to laugh by the civilized joke of the miraculous intelligence of your missiles: When you hit Iraq, Iran screamed. When you aimed at Afghanistan during your first attack on that country, you hit Pakistan, and one of your smart missiles infuriated the Yellow Giant by destroying its embassy in Belgrade. I admit –in all fairness- the intelligence of at least one of your missiles: the Patriot missile which saw one of the stupid Scuds which had lost its way, so it knocked it to the right direction and invited it to dinner with the American intelligence officers in Khobar.

As for being clean, the whole world bears witness that you fought the cleanest war but with one simple observation: that although you cleaned out Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you unintentionally left a little pollution in its place. Perhaps you will realize your mistake in Afghanistan and its citizens, and be more generous and paint the sites with a little cheap American paint.

However, for the sake of the truth we should also say that there is little doubt about the cleanness of your war in Iraq since the witnesses against you are children, and the law does not accept the witness of children even if they number in the millions, but the witnesses for your side are adults of the level of dictators and their generals.

Mr. President, do you think that your list in which you announce the names of terrorist organizations and the countries that support terrorism will serve your interests, or will it be further proof that the world is against you? Who is the advisor who suggested publishing this list at the same time that people discovered your own house is glass and is still broken? Why do you make enemies of those who throw stones at you from Japan in the East, to Peru in the West? During the present dangerous security situation in your country wouldn’t it have been enough for you to choose one country and one organization? Or do you want to incite all of them, so that if any one of them performs a terrorist operation you can hold the Muslims alone responsible so that your Crusade against them can continue forever?

Mr. President, don’t suppose that I want to recount your few faults and forget our own (in your eyes) very many faults. No, I will mention to you a serious fault of us Muslims: we don’t forget our tragedies no matter how much time has passed. Imagine, Mr. President, we still weep over Andalusia and remember what Ferdinand and Isabella did there to our religion, culture and honor! We dream of regaining it. Nor will we forget the destruction of Baghdad, or the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of your Crusader ancestors. That is, we are not (in your opinion) at the level of civilization enjoyed by the Germans and Japanese who support your hostilities and forget your past treatment of them. Moreover, the African Muslims who embraced Islam after the fall of Andalusia cry along with the Arabs, just as the Indonesians do who only heard recently heard about Andalusia. It may be a problem for us, but who will pay the price after awhile?

Mr.President, your problem with the Afghans –and the Muslims in general- is that you are stronger than necessary and they are weaker than necessary. Every time you use excessive force, or are excessive in using it, it proves to be a weakness in strength. This is a great divine mystery which reminds us of what happened to the tyrant Pharaoh at the hands of the oppressed children of Israel.

Listen to the story from God’s Holy Scripture:
Ta Seen Meem. These are the revelations of the manifest scripture. We recite to you some of the story of Moses and Pharaoh in truth, for a people who have faith. Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and divided its people into groups, oppressing one group among them: slaying their sons and sparing their women. Truly, he was one of the tyrants. We desire to bless those who are oppressed in the land, to make them rulers and to make them the heirs, and to establish them in the land. We let Pharaoh, Haman and their hosts receive from them that of which they had feared. “ (28:1-6)

Do not say, “Who am I compared to Pharaoh?” You have demanded of the Muslims what Pharaoh never demanded of Moses –peace be upon him- and the children of Israel: that they should not hate you in their hearts no matter what you do to them or how you oppress them, or else you will have revenge on them. This is an attribute exclusive to God, for God Almighty alone is the Able to wreak vengeance on all who do not love Him. We know of no dictatorial empire in ancient history which treated people according to what their hearts and consciences conceal, let alone a twenty-first century democracy.

You may say, “We intend to remove anything that will incite hate from sermons, school curricula, newspaper articles and the media.” We reply that if that is your democracy, then there is try as you like, but you should be sure that you will not succeed. We learned to hate oppression and love the truth from our religion and our Qur’an, and it is stronger than all of your means, and firmer than your mountains. If you refuse everything but the arrogance of force and the insanity of greatness, then there are no means left for you except the extermination of all the Muslims with nuclear or biological weapons, or whatever you want from hellish arsenal contains.

You may ask, “Why all of them when some of them love us?” Be sure, there is no Muslim on earth who loves you, even if they donate their blood to you, or set up intelligence gathering stations for you, or delegate to you setting the curriculum for the education of their people. Everyone on earth who claims to love you –and no Muslim is able to make that claim- they only love you like frightened prey loves a brutal predator.
You may say, “We will restore the trust of the Islamic peoples by changing their government into tolerant and democratic systems.” But we say you need only cease your evil treatment of us. You destroyed the Iraqi people as well as others by this false promise, and we do not want any freedom or democracy that comes from you and we will not accept it. The enemy of freedom cannot grant freedom.

Mr. President, I advise you and put the fear of God before you, to cease and desist from hostile action. Deal with the problem with fairness and patience, and you will find that we are with you reservation. Your hostility now, at the beginning of the way, is easier for you and better for the world. If not, easy beginnings are usually followed by extremely difficult ends. For that reason I ask you to think, Mr. President, if you destroy every country on your list of terrorists, will that be the end or only the beginning? Unless you want to be remembered by history for Armageddon, and in that case there will be no history anyway

For this reason I repeat to you: Fear God and think hard.

Peace upon him who follows God’s guidance,

Safar ibn Abdur-Rahmân al-Hawâlî

Muslim Screaming Allah Akbar Storms Cockpit on San Fran Flight

2011-05-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

Published May 09, 2011

| Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO – The passengers sat stunned as they watched a man walk quickly toward the front of American Airlines Flight 1561 as it was descending toward San Francisco. He was screaming and then began pounding on the cockpit door.

"I kept saying to myself: 'What's he doing? Does he have a bomb? Is he armed?'" passenger Angelina Marty said.

Within moments Sunday, a flight attendant tackled Rageh Almurisi. Authorities do not yet have a motive.

While authorities said that Almurisi, 28, of Vallejo, Calif., has no clear or known ties to terrorism, the incident underscored fears that extremists may try to mount attacks to retaliate for the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden last week.

Federal agents are investigating Almurisi's background. He was carrying a Yemeni passport and a California identification card, authorities said.

Yemen, a nation at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, has been a focus of U.S. officials because one of the most active branches of al-Qaida operates in the remote part of the country.

Almurisi went toward the cockpit door 30 minutes before the flight from Chicago was supposed to land on Sunday night, San Francisco airport police Sgt. Michael Rodriguez said. Almurisi was yelling unintelligibly as he brushed past a flight attendant.

Marty, 35, recalled that she and other passengers on the plane were stunned when they saw Almurisi walking down the aisle. She said a woman in a row across from her who speaks Arabic translated that Almurisi said "God is Great!" in Arabic.

Andrew Wai, another passenger, told KGO-TV on Monday that the wife of one of the men who took Almurisi down later said Almurisi was yelling "Allahu Akbar."

"There was no question in everybody's mind that he was going to do something," Marty said.

A male flight attendant tackled Almurisi, and other crew members and passengers, including a retired Secret Service agent and a retired San Mateo police officer, helped subdue him as he banged on the door, police said. The flight attendant put plastic handcuffs on him.

"Everybody was fixated on him," Marty said. "You never think that something like that would happen in your life."

Wai also said Almurisi appeared "fidgety" in his seat when he saw him on the way to the bathroom earlier in the flight.

The Boeing 737 carrying 162 people landed safely at 9:10 p.m. Almurisi was placed into police custody, as some passengers cried.

"Flight attendants were trying to soothe different passengers," Wai said. "We were all looking at our lives flash before our eyes."

Federal authorities took Almurisi into custody Monday morning after he spent the night at the San Mateo County jail, said San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti. Almurisi was being held on suspicion of interfering with a flight crew, a federal offense, according to authorities.

No one else was hurt and the airport continued operating normally with security levels unchanged, the officer said.

There were two other mid-air disturbances on Sunday.

A 34-year-old man from Illinois tried to open a plane door on a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Chicago. Investigators questioned him, but did not file charges.

There was a security scare aboard a Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to San Diego, prompting it to land in Albuquerque, N.M. Authorities did not release any more details, except to say that "no suspicious devices" were found. No one was arrested.

*Source : http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/09/suspect-flight-disturbance-calif-id/#ixzz1Ltrf7Id8

Minor Signs of the Hour

2011-05-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

Minor Signs of the End Times

Minor Signs are expected to occur in the End Times. Generally speaking, the Minor Signs either: (a) precede the beginning of the Major Signs, or (b) occur after the beginning of the Major Signs, but they are not significant enough to warrant classifying them as Major Signs.
No single Hadith lists all the minor signs, but there are hundreds of minor signs mentioned in hundreds of Hadiths. These Hadiths do not usually mention that they are Minor Signs. On the other hand, there are Hadiths that all of the Major Signs. So, we can classify as Minor Signs, those signs not listed among the Major signs.

Today, almost all of the Minor Signs have been fulfilled.

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, There are two types among the people of Hell whom I have not yet seen. The first are people who have whips like the tails of oxen, with which they beat people, and the second are women who are naked in spite of being dressed; they will be led astray and will lead others astray, and their heads will look like camels humps. These women will not enter Paradise; they will not even experience the faintest scent of it, even though the fragrance of Paradise can be perceived from such a great distance.

Anas ibn Malik said, The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was asked, O Messenger of Allah, (what will happen) when we stop enjoining good and forbidding evil? He said, When what happened to the Israelites happens among you: when fornication becomes widespread among your leaders, knowledge is in the hands of the lowest of you, and power passes into the hands of the least of you. (Ibn Majah.)

Ali ibn Abi Talib said, "The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: 'If my Ummah (nation) bears fifteen traits, tribulation will befall it.' Someone asked, 'What are they, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'When any gain is shared out only among the rich, with no benefit to the poor; when a trust becomes a means of making a profit; when paying Zakat (required Charitable tax paid by Muslims) becomes a burden; when a man obeys his wife and disobeys his mother; and treats his friend kindly whereas he shuns his father; when voices are raised in the mosques; when the leader of a people is the worst among them; when people treat a man with respect because they fear some evil he may do; when much wine is drunk; when men wear silk; when female singers and musical instruments become popular; when the last ones of this Ummah curse the first ones - then let them expect a red wind, or the earth to swallow them, or to be transformed into animals.'" (Tirmizi)

Ali ibn Abi Talib said, "The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم led us in praying Salat al-Fajr (the morning prayer). After he finished, a man called to him: 'When will the Hour be? The Prophet reprimanded him and said 'Be quiet!'. After a while he raised his eyes to the sky and said, 'Glorified be the One Who raised it and is taking care of it.' Then he lowered his gaze to the earth and said, 'Glory be to the One Who has outspread it and has created it (meaning Glory to Allah).' Then the Prophet said, 'Where is the one who asked me about the Hour?' The man knelt down and said, 'I asked you.' The Prophet said, 'The Hour will come when leaders are oppressors, when people believe in the stars and reject Al-Qadar (the Divine Decree of destiny) when a trust becomes a way of making a profit, when people give to Sadaqah (charity or alms) reluctantly, when adultery becomes widespread - when this happens, then your people will perish.'"

Imran ibn Husayn said, "The Prophet said, 'Some people of this Ummah will be swallowed up by the earth, some will be transformed into animals, and some will be bombarded with stones.' One of the Muslims asked, 'When will that be, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'When singers and musical instruments will become popular, and much wine will be drunk.'" (Tirmizi)

عن ثوبان رضي الله عنه قال:قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم :((يوشك الأمم أن تدعى عليكم ،كما تداعى الأكلة إلى قصعتها فقال قائل: ومن قلة نحن يومئذ قال:بل أنتم يومئذ كثير ولكنكم غثاء كغثاء السيل ولينزعن الله من صدور عدوكم المهابة منكم وليقذفن الله في قلوبكم الوهن ، فقال قائل :يارسول الله وما الوهن؟ قال: حب الدنيا وكرهية الموت)) رواه ابو داود -ابن عساكر-أحمد في سنده -وأبو نعيم في الحلية- وقد ذكره الالباني في سلسلة الاحاديث الصحيحة .

Abu Hurairah said, I heard the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم saying to Thawban, O Thawban, what will you do when the nations invite one another to invade you as people invite one another to eat a dish? Thawban said, May my father and my mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah! Is it because we will be few in number? The Prophet said, No, on that day, you (Muslims) will be a lot, but Allah will put Wahan (weakness) in your hearts. The people asked, O Messenger of Allah, What is Wahan (weakness)? He said, 'It is love of this World and dislike of death' (meaning you do not fight because you fear death). (Ahmad, Abu Dawud)

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, Woe to the Arabs from the great evil which is nearly approaching them: it will be like patches of dark night. A man will wake up as a believer, and be a kafir (unbeliever) by nightfall. People will sell their religion for a small amount of worldly goods. The one who clings to his religion on that day will be as one who is grasping an ember - or thorns. (Ahmad.)

Abu Hurairah said, "The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, The Hour will not come until the following events have come to pass: two large groups will fight the another, and there will be many casualties; they will both be following the same religious teaching. Nearly thirty Dajjals will appear, each of them falsely claiming to be a Messenger from Allah. Knowledge will disappear, earthquakes will increase, time will pass quickly, Fitnas (strifes, trials, and Tribulations) will appear, and Harj (killing) will increase. Wealth will increase, so that a wealthy man will worry lest no-one accept his Zakat, and when he offers it to anyone, that person will say, I am not in need of it. People will compete in constructing high buildings. When a man passes by someone’s grave, he will say, Would that I were in his place! The sun will rise from the west; when it rises and the people see it, they will believe, but, 'No good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it will not have already believed or earned righteousness through its faith ...' (Quran, Al-Anam 6:158) The Hour will come suddenly: when a man has milked his she-camel and taken away the milk, but he will not have time to drink it; before a man repairing a tank for his livestock will be able to put water in it for his animals; and before a man who has raised a morsel of food to his mouth will be able to eat it." (Bukhari)

روى عن عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه أنه جاء جبريل عليه السلام إلى الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم في صورة رجل يلبس الثياب البيض الناصعة له شعر شديد السواد ،وسأل الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم عن الإسلام والإيمان و الإحسان وأجابه رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ثم سأله عن الساعة؟ فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم:((ما المسؤول عنها بأعلم من السائل ،قال:أخبرني عن أمراتها قال:أن تلد الأمة ربتها ، وأن ترى الحفاة العراة رعاء الشاة يتطاولون في البنيان))رواه مسلم في صحيحه

حدثنا ‏ ‏أبو بكر بن أبي شيبة ‏ ‏حدثنا ‏ ‏إسمعيل ابن علية ‏ ‏عن ‏ ‏أبي حيان ‏ ‏عن ‏ ‏أبي زرعة ‏ ‏عن ‏ ‏أبي هريرة ‏ ‏قال ‏‏كان رسول الله ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏يوما بارزا للناس فأتاه رجل فقال يا رسول الله متى الساعة فقال ‏ ‏ما المسئول عنها بأعلم من السائل ولكن سأخبرك عن ‏ ‏أشراطها ‏ ‏إذا ولدت الأمة ‏ ‏ربتها ‏ ‏فذاك من ‏ ‏أشراطها ‏ ‏وإذا كانت الحفاة العراة رءوس الناس فذاك من ‏ ‏أشراطها ‏ ‏وإذا تطاول رعاء الغنم في البنيان فذاك من ‏ ‏أشراطها ‏ ‏في خمس لا يعلمهن إلا الله فتلا رسول الله ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم
‏إن الله عنده علم الساعة وينزل ‏ ‏الغيث ‏ ‏ويعلم ما في الأرحام ‏

(Ibn Maja)

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, Time will pass rapidly, knowledge will decrease, miserliness will become widespread in peoples hearts, afflictions will appear, and there will be much Harj. The people asked, O Messenger of Allah, what is Harj? He said, Killing, killing! (Bukhari)

Abu Hurairah said, The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said, The Hour will not come before the Euphrates (river which passes through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq) uncovers a mountain of gold (this does not have to be gold, but it must be something very valuable), for which people will fight. Ninety-nine out of every hundred will die, but every one among them will say that perhaps he will be the one who will survive (and thus possess the gold).
(Muslim)

Abu Hurairah also said, The Prophet said, the Euphrates will disclose a golden treasure. Whoever is present at that time should not take anything of it.

Huzaifah said, The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم told us two Hadith, one of which I have seen fulfilled, and I am waiting for the fulfilment of the other. The Prophet told us that honesty came down into men's hearts (from Allah); then they learned it from the Quran, and then from the Sunnah. The Prophet told us that honesty will be taken away. He said, Man will be overtaken by sleep, during which honesty will be taken away from his heart, and only traces of it will remain.... Then man will be overtaken by slumber again, during which honesty will decrease even further, until its traces will resemble a blister such as is caused when an ember is dropped onto ones foot: it swells, but there is nothing inside. People will be carrying on with their trade, but there will hardly be any trustworthy persons. People will say: 'there is an honest man in such-and-such a tribe'. Later they will say about some man: 'What a wise, polite and strong man he is!' - although he will not have faith even the size of a mustard-seed in his heart... (Bukhari)
Hadith - Bukhari 9.237, Narrated Abu Huraira

Allah's Messenger said, "The Hour will not occur
(1) until two big groups fight each other whereupon there will be a great number of casualties on both sides and they will be following one and the same religious doctrine,
(2) until about thirty Dajjals (liars) appear, and each one of them will claim that he is Allah's Messenger,
(3) until the religious knowledge is taken away (by the death of religious scholars)
(4) until earthquakes increase in number
(5) until time passes quickly,
(6) until Fitan (afflictions) appear,
(7) until Al-Harj (i.e., killing) will increase,
(8) until wealth will be in abundance--so abundant that a wealthy person will worry lest nobody should accept his Zakat (charity), and whenever he will present it to someone, that person (to whom it will be offered) will say, 'I am not in need of it,'
(9) until the people compete with one another in constructing high buildings,
(10) until a man when passing by a grave of someone will say, 'Would that I were in his place,'
(11) and until the sun rises from the West.
So, when the sun rises and the people see it (rising from the West), they will all believe (embrace Islam), but that will be the time when: (As Allah in the Quran said,) "The day when some signs of your Lord will come, no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good (by performing deeds of righteousness) through his faith." (Surah Al-An'aam 6.158)
The Hour will occur while two men spreading a garment in front of them but they will not be able to sell it, nor fold it up; and the Hour will be established when a man has milked his she-camel and has taken away the milk but he will not be able to drink it; and the Hour will be established before a man repairing a tank (for his livestock) is able to water (his animals) in it; and the Hour will be established when a person has raised a morsel (of food) to his mouth but will not be able to eat it."

The main Minor Signs include:
The Prophethood of Muhammad [passed]
The death of the Prophet [passed]
The conquering of Bait ul-Maqdis [passed]
Trials and civil strife [passed]:(i) The appearance of troubles in the east(ii) The killing of Uthmaan (ra)(iii) The battle of al-Jamaal(iv) The battle of Siffeen(v) The appearance of the Khawaarij(vi) The happening of al-Harrah(vii) The appearance of the saying that the Quran is create(viii) The following of the ways of the previous nations
The appearance of claimants to Prophethood [passed]
Widespread safety [passed]
Fighting the Turks [passed]
Fighting the non-Arabs [passed]
Disappearance of trustworthiness [passed]
Disappearance of knowledge and appearance of ignorance [passed]
Increase in the number of police and helpers of the oppressors [passed]
Spread of fornication [passed]
Spread of usury [passed]
Spread of musical instruments [passed]
Drinking of intoxicants and it being allowed [passed]
Adorning the mosques and rivaling therein [passed]
Building tall buildings [passed]
The slave girls giving birth to her mistress (the daughter of her master) [passed]
Increase in killing [passed]
Time passing quickly [passed]
Coming together of markets [passed]
Appearance of Shirk in this Ummah [passed]
Appearance of wickedness, cutting off of relations and ill treatment of neighbors [passed]
Dying of gray hairs with black dye [passed]
Increase of extreme miserliness [passed]
Increase in trade [passed]
Increase in earthquakes [passed]
Appearance of sinking into the earth, transformation into animals and false-accusations [passed]
The passing away of the pious [passed]
The raising of the despicable people to positions of importance [passed]
Greeting is given only to people a person knows [passed]
That knowledge is sought from other than the scholars in truth [passed]
Appearance of women in clothes which do not cover them [passed]
The truthfulness of the dreams of the Believers [passed]
Spread and increase in writing [passed]
Laxity with regard to the Sunnah [passed]
Increase in size of the new moons (satellites) [passed]
Increase in falsehood and having no concern to check reports [passed]
Increase in false testimony and withholding true witness [passed]
Women will be much more than men in number [passed]
Sudden death being common [passed]
Spread of hatred amongst peoples [passed]
Wishing for death because of the severity of trials [passed]
Increase in the number of ‘Romans’ (pagans/Christians) and their fighting the Muslims [passed]
The expelling by al-Madina of its wicked people [passed]
The return of the land of the Arabs to being pastures and rivers
Increase in rain but decrease in agriculture
The revealing of a mountain of gold by the Euphrates river
The talking of wild animals and inanimate objects to people

Children in bin Laden house had home school to guard secret

2011-05-09T14:28:00.001-07:00

Children in bin Laden house had home school to guard secret

By Saad Khan

ISLAMABAD | Mon May 9, 2011 12:36pm EDT

(Reuters) - About 16 children who were living with Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani hideout were carefully watched by the al Qaeda leader, forced to study at home and rarely ventured out of the fortress-like compound.

U.S. Special forces killed bin Laden in a raid on his compound in the town of Abbottabad, 50 km (30 miles) north of the capital, Islamabad, on May 2.

Pakistani investigators searching the buildings after the raid found a room equipped with a drawing board that served as a home school for the children.

"The kids weren't allowed to go to nearby schools to avoid being traced," said a Pakistani security official.

"They were very protective, very secretive about the children ... As you can imagine, the children may have blurted something out," said the official, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The world's most wanted man spent nearly 10 years in hiding after orchestrating the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, until U.S. agents finally tracked him down.

Among the people that Pakistani authorities detained after the raid were three of bin Laden's wives, a Yemeni and two Saudi Arabians.

The two Saudi women were highly educated, with one of them holding a doctorate in Islamic law, and it was they who taught the children, the Pakistani investigators said.

Among the children, were four of bin Laden's grandchildren, they said. It was not believed that all of the other children were bin Laden's, they said.

One of bin Laden's adult sons was killed in the U.S. raid along with two other men.

Neighbors on the edge of Abbottabad where the compound was located were shocked to learn that bin Laden had been living among them but some said his presence explained the strange behavior of the residents of the compound.

The children never ventured out alone to play with the neighborhood children and were only occasionally seen walking to nearby shops, but always with an adult, neighbors said.

Pakistani security officials said bin Laden's wives and the children will be deported back to their countries after an investigation is finished.

(Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

*Source : http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/09/us-binladen-children-idUSTRE7482ZY20110509

How to Check Your Car for a GPS Tracker

2011-05-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

How to Check Your Car for a GPS Tracker
By How-To Wiki
May 9, 2011 |
7:00 am |
Categories: Surveillance, privacy
It used to be that only the CIA, James Bond and Spider-Man had the technology necessary to attach a tracking device to a vehicle and keep tabs on it wherever it goes. But now that GPS trackers are cheaper than TV sets, everyone from local police to car-rental companies are getting into the act. And with the Barack Obama administration urging the Supreme Court to allow warrantless GPS tracking, the number of vehicles trundling around with tracking devices attached might be getting a lot higher soon. Is your car one of them? We’ll show you how to find out.
Battle Brews Over FBI’s Warrantless GPS Tracking

FBI Vehicle-Tracking Device: The Teardown

Video: The Dissection of an FBI Bumper-Beeper

Passive Trackers
The easiest trackers to, er, track down are older, cheaper passive trackers. These collect data but don’t beam it back out, instead storing it on an internal drive that has to be retrieved. They also run on their own battery pack, and usually have relatively weak antennas. Add up these factors and you’re most likely to find one in an easy-to-access place, like the undercarriage of your car, the wheel well, or inside one of the bumpers. They can’t see through metal, so don’t bother checking your truck or under the hood for these.
How to find it? Just get under your car and look around. If you see a black box, give it a yank. If it comes free, it’s probably not factory-installed. Even if you’re not sure what a normal car underside looks like, a surveillance device is going to look out of place. While you’re at it, check the car cushions and unzip your headrests; those are
both fine places to hide a passive device.
Active Trackers
More-recent devices not only gather your GPS location data, they send it back out to someone who may be following your movements on the internet right now. Many of them can be spliced right into your car’s electrical system. No batteries and no need for retrieval mean that your shadow can be extra-sneaky when hiding the device. The engine compartment is going to be too hot, and the trunk is basically a metal box, so you can still pretty much rule those out. Start by looking behind the console, and don’t stop until you’ve looked pretty much everywhere else.
Alternately, you can pick up a GPS detector, a handy device that can detect active devices. Be careful, though: Many active devices only send out info intermittently, and only when the vehicle is moving. You’re going to have to find a friend — if you have any you can trust — to wave the device around while you drive, looking for evidence of privacy-invading data transmission. And avoid crowded areas: Someone talking on a cellphone on a nearby sidewalk can give you a false positive.
Deep Cover
Todd Morris, CEO of BrickHouse Security, says he sells a high-end device that can track your location even if it’s “in a safe, in a van, in an underground parking garage.” These devices rely more on cell-tower triangulation than GPS signals, but they can still tell the Powers that Peep where you are with startling accuracy.
Can a GPS detector find those sorts of devices? If you’re such a high-priority target that someone’s placed a state-of-the-art tracker on your vehicle, can you afford to take the chance? There’s almost no chance a cursory investigation is going to find one of these gadgets. Your only choice is to have the car stripped down completely by a mechanic — preferably one you’ve got something on — and reassembled. Then of course you’ll have to do it again and again, because if they’re not watching you now, they might be a week from now.
Or, as a last resort, you can switch to a bicycle to transport you to and from your private deeds. Not much space on one of those to hide a tracker, plus your heart will thank you, even if your enemies don’t

A Statement Concerning the Defiant Battle, and the Martyrdom of Sheikh Usama bin Laden

2011-05-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

Jamadi-ul-Thani 03, 1432 A.H, Saturday, May 07, 2011

You Lived a Praised Life and You Died as a Martyr!!!

The General Command of Al-Qaedah

A Statement Concerning the Defiant Battle, and the Martyrdom of Sheikh Usama bin Laden (may Allah have mercy on him)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

All praise be to the One who has said:

﴿وَلَئِنْ قُتِلْتُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَوْ مُتُّمْ لَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَحْمَةٌ خَيْرٌ مِمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ﴾

“And if ye are slain, or die, in the way of Allah, forgiveness and mercy from Allah are far better than all they could amass.” (Aali Imran: 157)

May peace and blessings be upon His Messenger, who said:

‹‹ لوددت أني أقتل في سبيل الله ثم أحيا ثم أقتل ثم أحيا ثم أقتل ››

“I wish that I could be killed in the Path of Allah, then be raised again, then be killed, then be rasied again, and then be killed.”

... and upon his family and companions who spread the truth in their justice, and guarded the religion with their lives, and spilt their blood for its supremacy.

﴿مَا وَهَنُوا لِمَا أَصَابَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَمَا ضَعُفُوا وَمَا اسْتَكَانُوا﴾

“But they never lost heart if they met with disaster in Allah's way, nor did they weaken (in will) nor give in.” (Aali Imran: 146)

...and upon all those who followed their path, fighting Jihad and showing patience like them until the Day of Recompense.

On a historical day in the history of the magnificent Ummah, in a situation not newfound for its heroes and chivalrous men in its blessed past, and upon a prepared and paved way trekked by the best men in history, the Sheikh, the Mujahid, the Commander, the ascetic, the Muhajir (Emigrant), Abu Abdullah Usama bin Muhammad bin Laden, may Allah have mercy on him, in a situation of truth, proving his words with actions, his claim with evidence, was killed, joining the caravan of the awed Ummah, whose caravans have left one after one, joined by great leaders, loyal soldiers, and noble knights, who all refused to pay a cheap price for this religion, refusing to hand over its leadership and be humiliated by those over whom Allah has written humiliation and wretchedness from those who have earned His wrath and the misguided. He confronted them, his weapons against theirs with his, and his strength against theirs, and he accepted the challenge of those who came out their fancy equipment, machinery, weapons, aircrafts and their troops, all haughty and pompous. His determination did not weaken in front of them, nor was he sapped of strength. Rather, he stood and confronted them face to face like a firm mountain, and continued to engage them in a fierce battle, the likes of which he was already accustomed to a thousand others in its likes, after which he excused himself and fulfilled the trust, receiving bullets of treachery and infidelity, submitting his soul to its creator, reciting:

[Poetry]

من يبذُلِ الروحَ الكريم لربِّه --- دفعاً لباطلهم فكيف يُلامُ

Whoever submits his noble soul to his Lord ... to repel their falsehood, how can he be blamed?

…to end his enlightened life, a good news for the honor which he was seeking for many years, traveling across earth in its search. He received it, sending the glad tidings when he faced it: Indeed it is martyrdom in the sake of Allah.

﴿وَمَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا وَمَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا ذُو حَظٍّ عَظِيمٍ﴾

“And no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint,- none but persons of the greatest good fortune.” (Fussilat 35)

The echoes of his words still ring across the horizons:

فالسَّعيد من اتخذه الله شهيداً

“The successful are those who Allah has chosen as a martyr.”

And his thinking was not one of the unable!

[Poetry]

ومن ظن ممن يلاقي الحروب --- بأن لا يصاب فقد ظن عجزا

Whoever fights in wars and thinks ... he will not be harmed has thought himself unable

Congratulations, O' Ummah of the martyrdom of its righteous son, Usamah! After a life filled with striving and effort, determination and patience, inspiring and waging Jihad, generosity and nobility, emigration and travel, sincerity and excellent stances, wisdom and tact, the worldly years of the Sheikh of Jihad in this time has come to an end, so that his blood, his words, his stances and his final end become a spirit which will travel through the flesh of the coming generations of our Islamic Ummah, one after another, learning from him that glory is not built from mere wishful thinking and hopes, that leadership is not about status and medals, that creed and principles are not mere rants and raves chanted by the tongue, that the religion is not defended and aided in one's spare time, deeds and speech, that the path to honor, in this life and the next, is ready for those who wish to pay the price and bear its pains, that leadership in religion is not gained except by patience and certainty, and that a Muslim's capital investment is truthfulness, sincerity, and purity and intention.

Even if America has been able to kill Usama, this is not embarrassment or shame. Do chivalrous men and heros die in situations other than battles? Everything has an appointed term, but can the Amercans, through their media and their agents, their machinery and armies, their intelligence and their various agencies, kill of what Sheikh Usama lived for and was killed for? Far be it! Far be it! Sheikh Usama did not build this organization to die with his death.

﴿يُرِيدُونَ لِيُطْفِئُوا نُورَ اللَّهِ بِأَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَاللَّهُ مُتِمُّ نُورِهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْكَافِرُونَ * هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ﴾

“Their intention is to extinguish Allah's Light (by blowing) with their mouths: But Allah will complete (the revelation of) His Light, even though the Unbelievers may detest (it). It is He Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, that he may proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it).” (Saff: 8-9)

This verse will never cease to be an arrow, piercing the necks of these deaf and dumb who have no intellect. The Religion of Allah, from which is Jihad, will always remain to be, its creed carried by those with pure hearts, striving to be revived by those with pure hands, and seeking to be made supreme by bands of truthful men, unharmed by those who oppose them or abandon them until the Promise of Allah comes to be.

Usama bin Laden was not a prophet sent for the twentieth century. Rather, he was a Muslim man from this noble Muslim Ummah who took the Book firmly with strength and sold this life for the next, striving as it deserves. This is how we reckon him. So Allah elevated his status as much has he elevated Islam, gave him glory as much as he strove to glorify Islam, and terrified the nations of infidelity as much as he did not fear others except his Lord. Indeed the Ummah which gave birth to Usama bin Laden is still fertile, and there will be many more heros like him to come, who find delight in sacrifice and patience, choking their enemies, and opening for them the gates of Hellfire, or leading them to Paradise in chains. The University of Faith, Quran and Jihad from which the Sheikh graduated will never close its doors. The Quran has been preserved and memorized, and its verses are recited throughout the night and day; it will never be erased, even if they were to gather from the four corners of the earth. How can it be so when our Muslim Ummah today is flocking back to their religion and their willingness to sacrifice for their creed, and their strengh in confronting their enemies, and are more aware of the plots being conspired against them, after a new pure and pious generation has been reared which Sheikh Usama, may Allah have mercy upon him, played a good part in creating, along with his other brothers from the righteous leaders and good righteous preachers: a generation which is proud with their faith and feels honored with their Islam, and sees nothing of the infidel west and their fake civilization, the civilization of effeminacy, depravity, trickery and deceit, a generation which takes the martyrdom of their leaders an opportunity to reaffirm their alliance to the religion, not a penalty to turn back on their heels, repeating the saying of Allah with belief and certainty:

﴿فَلْيُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ يَشْرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا بِالْآخِرَةِ وَمَنْ يُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَيُقْتَلْ أَوْ يَغْلِبْ فَسَوْفَ نُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا﴾

Let those fight in the cause of Allah Who sell the life of this world for the hereafter. To him who fighteth in the cause of Allah,- whether he is slain or gets victory - Soon shall We give him a reward of great (value). (Al Nisaa:74)

We also remind that the blood of Sheikh Usama, may Allah have mercy on him, more precious to us and to all Muslims than to be spilt without result. It will remain as a curse which pursues the Americans and their agents domestically and internationally. Soon, Allah willing their celebration will turn into sorrow, and their tears will mix with their blood. We will indeed fulfill the oath of Sheikh Usama, may Allah have mercy on him:

فلن تنعم أمريكا ولا مَن يعيش في أمريكا بالأمان حتى ينعمَ به أهلنا في فلسطين

“America nor those in it will never feel peace and security unless our fellow Muslims feel it in Palestine.”

The soldiers of Islam, groups and individuals, will continue to plan night and day without rest, without despair and without surrender, without tiring, until you are struck with an amazing event which will whiten the hair of children before the elderly.

We call upon the Muslim people of Pakistan, upon whose soil Sheikh Usama was killed, to stand and revolt, to wash this blemish which has stained them by this small band of traitors and thugs who have sold everything to the enemies of the Ummah, and have no care for the sentiment of this noble Mujahid people. They must carry our a strong uprising to purify their land, Pakistan, from the filth of the Americans who have sought havoc on earth:

﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ﴾

“Allah does not change a people's lot unless they change what is in their hearts.” (Ar-Ra'd: 11)

In addition to what has preceded, we mention that the Sheikh refused to leave this world without sharing the joy of the Islamic Ummah over their revolt against the injustice of the tyrants, and he, may Allah have mercy on him, recorded for it an audio message one week before his killing, which consisted of congratulations, advice and direction, which we will soon release, Allah willing. It ended with the following verses of poetry:

فقول الحق للطاغي --- هو العز هو البشرى

هو الدربُ إلى الدنيا --- هو الدربُ إلى الأخرى

فإن شئتَ فمتْ عبداً --- وإن شئتَ فمت حرّا

For speaking the truth to a tyrant...is the true honor and glad tidings.

It is the path to the world...it is the path to the Hereafter.

If you wish die as a slave...and if you wish die as a freeborn.

We also warn the Americans from bringing any harm to the body of the Sheikh, may Allah have mercy on him, or dealing with it in any unsuitable manner, along with the bodies of anyone one of his family members, whether killed or otherwise, and that they hand over the body to their family. Otherwise, any act of desecration to it will open multiple more doors of evil, about which you should blame none other than yourselves. We ask all the Muslims to do what they can in regards to fulfill this right.

All matters return to Allah, in the beginning and the end, and the wrongdoers will come to know the what end they will meet.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all that exists, and may much peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family.

Al-Qaedah/ The General Command

Tuesday, Jumada Al Ulaa 29, 1432

May 3, 2011

Source: Al-Fajr Media Center

Translated by:

The Global Media Islamic Front

Observing Mujahideen News and Inspiring the Believers

Submitted by a Mujahid

I AM ANGER

2011-05-08T11:48:00.001-07:00

Islamic Law Barbaric?

2011-05-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

Islamic Law Barbaric?

Jamadi-ul-Awwal 08, 1432 A.H, Tuesday, April 12, 2011

This is yet another accusation levelled against Islam - that its Shari'ah is barbaric. The word ‘barbaric’ was originally used by the Greeks for ‘foreigners’ to express the strange sound of their language. Later, this word was used to describe people who are ‘uncivilised, primitive, rough, uneducated, brutal, cruel, blood-thirsty and merciless’ as opposed to being ‘advanced, civilised, cultured, humane and compassionate.’

It is true to say that not a single synonym of ‘barbaric’ is applicable to the Islamic penal system. On the contrary, humane values lie at the heart of the criminal justice system in Islam and all the antonyms of barbaric are truly descriptive of the Shari'ah.

The object of punishment is not to relentlessly hunt down wrongdoers for retribution, but to see that peace, right and order are restored and this could be illustrated by the fact that the Islamic penal system almost wholly ‘‘lacks police, prisons and professional executioners.”

The hudud may appear to be harsh in the eyes of those who have been swayed by false sentiments, but human experience shows that if a punishment was to act as ‘deterrent’, then it has to be severe and exemplary.

Life cannot be safe if the habitual criminals are left unfinished and it is better to be severe to one and save many than to be unnecessarily lenient and thereby destroy many and put the lives of millions of others at risk.

The deterrent punishments in Islam on the surface appears to be harsh, but it is only meant for “such incorrigible offenders who stand as real obstacles in the healthy growth of human society” and “in fact, it was a vital instrument in the dynamics of building a new social order” and it radically abolished and amended the pre-Islamic systems where inhumanity and vengeance was the order of the day.

Prisons in Western societies are miserably failing its people and apart from being living hell, prison destabilises people and often has “a destructive effect on the personality.”

Home Office statistics in Britain shows that longer sentences do not prevent reconviction and in fact 50 per cent males and 35 per cent females get convicted within two years after coming out of prison.

Thus, it is not true to say that prison is the more appropriate punishment for theft rather than the amputating of hand and if reducing the crime rate is the objective, then certainly the choice will be the Divine law – you compare the crime statistics of Saudi Arabia and America and judge which one is better.

Severe

Sentences may appear to be severe in Islam, ‘‘but still more strict and severe are the ‘procedures’ laid down to be observed before a man may be convicted” and Rasulullah Sallallahu ’alayhi wa sallam said: “Avoid the hudud as much as possible. Wherever there is even a mild chance, release him, for releasing by an error on the part of the judge is better than to punish anyone with error.” (At-Tirmizi and Ibn Majah)

Islam also teaches that “no bearer of a burden shall bear the burden of another” (Surah Al-Anam:164), it guarantees the accused immunity from ‘malicious prosecution’ due to strict rules of evidence, it strongly advocates the equality of all before the law and in the realm of qisas (equitable retribution) it teaches that “let him not exceed in the matter of taking life for he is aided.” (Surah Al-Isra:33)

Such is the humanity taught by Islam 1400 years ago!

Very Few

We have dealt with the humane values that Islam stresses even at the time of sentencing. For example, in the case of flogging, several conditions and restrictions are imposed ranging from the type of stick to who inflicts the punishment to where it should hit!

In actual practice, “very few had punishments (had been) prescribed,” according to Rudolph Peters in The Islamisation of Criminal Law (1994, Germany).

Therefore, “Islam is a package deal which Muslims are bound to follow and if the progressive modern cultured societies can ‘tolerate’ mass killing indiscriminately with atomic bombs, then certainly they can tolerate the amputation of the hands, flogging or stoning to death for certain ‘heinous’ crimes i.e. sacrifice of a few individuals for the sake of the society as a whole,” so said Mohamed Wassel in The Islamic Law- Its Application as It was Revealed in the Quran and its Adaptability to Cultural Change.

Outdated?

Yet another criticism against Islamic law is that it is ‘outdated’.

Outdated means ‘old fashioned, obsolete and unfashionable’ and it is applicable to something which is ‘out of date’, and to raise this objection against Islamic law doesn’t make sense.

The Shari'ah is a living law today, as it was 1400 years ago, among the Muslim masses across the globe, though it may not be implemented in its totality.

I think the critic is not trying to pinpoint any particular ‘weaknesses’ of Islamic law but is simply saying that the Shari'ah is too old and therefore we should forsake it for the latest modern trend.

There is nothing such as ‘modernism’ in Islam as Islam is forever modern, progressive and dynamic because human trends show that what is modern today becomes obsolete tomorrow.

The Shari'ah emanates from Allah the All Wise who, being well aware of human conditions, has revealed a law (Surah Al-Ma’idah: 48) that is perfectly universal and applicable to all nations for all times.

It is not a system of law to be judged and evaluated as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in accordance with the changing views of the population or the policies of the state and therefore the Shari'ah is radically different from the ordinary law in which the legislative authority is free to explain and comment on the law introduced by it which it can freely amend, cancel or withdraw.

Permanence

If the aim of the law is to control unacceptable human behaviour and to reduce the rate of crime, then there has to be an element of permanence so that it may be easily recognised by the citizens who after all, are the ones who are bound to follow the law (English law teaches that ‘ignorance of law is no defence’).

But man-made laws change all the time according to changing ‘social attitudes’ so much so that actions that were once regarded as ‘detestable’ and ‘heinous’ crimes (such as abortion, suicide, prostitution , homosexuality and adultery in England) are now regarded as ‘legal’ and normal under the same laws!

Such is the nature of human laws which cannot fully comprehend human nature or predict the future and is constantly changing so much so that if I buy a law textbook today, it may not be valid for tomorrow.

Islamic law, therefore, does not recognise the liberty of (human) legislation, for it would be incompatible with the ethical control of human actions and, ultimately, of society.

That is why man-made laws have miserably failed and the rate of crime has reached epidemic proportion.

Islamic law is at once static as well as dynamic as a result of which it has attracted people of all nations over the last 1400 years and yet kept the social fabric of Islam compact and secure through the ages and this law shall be as responsive to the urges of a progressive society in the present and the future as it has been in the past.

So it’s about time that the fallible Occidental homo sapiens change their ‘fashionable’ attitudes of contempt for Islamic law so that they may be assured of their spiritual and material well being and create an ordered crime free society based on justice.

Islamia BT

Submitted by a Mujahid

AL-WALA' WAL-BARA' AND THE DECLARATION OF FAITH

2011-05-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

AL-WALA' WAL-BARA' AND THE DECLARATION OF FAITH

Love is the source of wala' and hate is the source of bara'; it is by

this that both the heart and the hand are moved to act. Wala' inspires

intimacy, concern and help. Bara' provokes obstruction, enmity and

rejection. Wala' and Bara' are both related to the declaration of

faith and constitute essential elements in it. The evidence of this

from the Qur'an and the Sunnah is considerable.

As for the Qur'an, consider the following ayat:

"Let not the believers

take disbelievers for their friends in preference to believers. Allah bids you to beware (only) of Himself. And to Allah is the journeying." [3:28]

And also:

"O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians

for friends. They are friends of one another. And whoever of you takes

them for friends is (one) of them. Surely Allah does not guide
wrongdoing people." [5:51]

We will mention only a few of the many hadith and reports of the

Companions on this subject. Imam Ahmad reports from Jarir ibn Abdullah

that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, made him

swear an oath to 'offer counsel to every Muslim and to steer clear of

every disbeliever. '

Ibn Shayba reports that the Prophet said,

"The strongest bond of

faith is love for the sake of Allah and enmity for His sake."

Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet said,

"The strongest bond of faith

is loyalty for the sake of Allah and opposition for His sake, love for

the sake of Allah and enmity for His sake."

At-Tabarani, al-Kabir. It is mentioned by as-Suyuti, al-Jami'

as-Saghir, 1/69. Al-Albani classes it as "hassan".

Ibn Abbas is also reported to have said,

"Whoever loves for the sake

of Allah, and hates for the sake of Allah, and whoever seals a

friendship for His sake, or declares an enmity for His sake, will

receive, because of this, the protection of Allah. No one may taste

true faith except by this, even if his prayers and fasts are many.

People have come to build their relationships around the concerns of

the world, but it will not benefit them in any way. Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Jami' al-Ulum wal Hikam, p.30.

As for BARA 'enmity for the sake of Allah', it includes the obligation

to declare enmity for His sake: opposition for the sake of Allah. it

is to declare opposition in deed,to shun them, and to stay far from

them both in word and deed. This proves that simple opposition of the

spirit is not enough, and that it must be a complete honouring of your

commitment, for Allah says:

"There is a good example for you in Ibrahim and those with him, when they told their people: 'Surely we

disassociate ourselves from you and all that you worship beside Allah.

We have done with you. And there has arisen between us and you enmity
and hate for ever until you believe in Allah only'." [60:4] (5)

As Ibn Taimiya has said,

"The declaration of faith, there is no god but Allah, requires you to love only for the sake of Allah, to hate

only for the sake of Allah, to ally yourself only for the sake of

Allah, to declare enmity only for the sake of Allah; it requires you

to love what Allah loves and to hate what Allah hates." Ibn Taimiya,

al-Ihtijaj bil-Qadar, p.62.

Muslim-Christian clashes kill 10 in Cairo

2011-05-08T06:58:00.000-07:00

Two churches set on fire after claims a Christian woman was being prevented from converting to Islam

Ian Black in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 8 May 2011 12.28 BST
Article history

Crowds and firefighters at the scene of clashes between Muslims and Christians in Cairo. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Egypt's transitional government has called a crisis meeting after Muslim-Christian clashes in Cairo left 10 dead and cast a new cloud over hopes for peaceful post-revolutionary change.

A Coptic church in the Imaba neighbourhood was set on fire after fighting broke out over claims that a Christian woman was being held and prevented from converting to Islam.

Initials reports on Egyptian state TV said six Muslims and three Copts had been killed, and there were nearly 200 injured. The death toll later rose to 10. The army, sensitive to alarm about deteriorating security, was quick to announce that 190 people arrested in connection with the violence would be tried in military courts.

Eyewitness described how several hundred Muslims massed outside the St Mina church demanding the woman be surrendered. Gunfire rang out and stones and petrol bombs were thrown before the army and emergency services were able to bring the situation under control. A second church was burned down.

Imbaba, which has some of Cairo's worst slums, was quiet but tense on Sunday, with tanks, troops and police on the streets. Copts called for a march to the US embassy off Tahrir Square to demand international protection.

Egyptian media described the attackers as Salafis, strictly fundamentalist Muslims who want to see the imposition of sharia law. The Salafis, often with links to Saudi Arabia, are seen as having gained prominence because security is far less repressive now than before the revolution. It is also widely believed that elements of the Hosni Mubarak regime are encouraging them.

"It's the previous regime that is responsible for this," one resident said at the scene. George Ishaq, a pro-democracy activist, said: "We demand that the higher military council punish all those responsible. This is a crime, not sectarian strife."

The incident was quickly condemned by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's main Islamist group. "We should crack down on that violence and not let those people ruin what we achieved in the January revolution," Essam El-Erian, the brotherhood spokesman, warned in a TV interview. "The Imbaba incident clearly shows that there are some people who are still working behind the scenes to ignite sectarian strife in Egypt."

Erian echoed suggestions that attacks were encouraged by members of the now disbanded National Democratic party, which ruled Egypt during the Mubarak era.

Last month 13 people died in similar Muslim-Coptic clashes in another neighbourhood of the capital. Copts make up about 10% of Egypt's 80 million people.

Over the weekend democracy activists held a conference to discuss the future of the revolution before parliamentary elections planned for September.

Al Qaeda prisoner kills officials in mutiny at Baghdad ministry, and 10 mutineers dead

2011-05-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

Al Qaeda prisoner kills officials in mutiny at Baghdad ministry, and 10 mutineers dead

Sunday, 08 May 2011

Huthaifa Al Batawi, an Al Qaeda operative, suspected of being the mastermind behind a bloody attack on a Church in Baghdad, initiated the prison's mutiny. (File Photo)

By DINA AL SHIBEEB
AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIes

An insurgent, an Al Qaeda operative known as the “Magistrate of Baghdad,” allegedly killed 4 policemen, and an Iraqi general, after leading a prison mutiny at the Interior Ministry in Baghdad on Sunday. At least 10 mutineers died when the police fired at them.

The shooting occurred in a prison run by the counter-terrorism unit of the interior ministry in Baghdad, a senior counter-terrorism official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Among the dead was Brig. Gen. Moayed al-Saleh, the head of counter-terrorism for Baghdad’s central Karrada district, a lieutenant colonel, and a first lieutenant, the official said.

An Interior Ministry official, who did not want to be named, subsequently confirmed the details to Reuters.

According to accounts pieced together by Reuters, the prisoner had been incarcerated for leading a siege on a Baghdad church in October 2010. During interrogation early Sunday, the suspect, Huthaifa Al Batawi, grabbed a policeman’s gun and opened fire, killing the officials. Prison staff shot him dead.

Al Batawi had been allegedly involved in a siege on Baghdad’s Syria Catholic cathedral, Our Lady of Salvation. Some 58 died in that siege, and 100 Iraqis were taken hostage.

According to Al Arabiya, Al Batawi—nicknamed “Wali of Baghdad” or “Baghdad’s magistrate”—was the mastermind behind the church attack, for which an Al Qaeda-linked Sunni insurgent group, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility.

Sunday’s incident came as security was tightened in Iraq where authorities fear reprisals from the local branch of Al Qaeda after the death of Osama Bin Laden on May 2 in a US Special Forces operation in Pakistan.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, during a visit to Tunisia on Saturday, said it was “likely” that Al Qaeda would plan attacks in Iraq to avenge Bin Laden’s death reported Agence-France Presse.

*Source : http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/05/08/148266.html

Peruvian president calls bin Laden killing miracle from Pope John Paul II

2011-05-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

Peruvian president calls bin Laden killing miracle from Pope John Paul II

(CNN) – While many world leaders praised the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden, the president of Peru went a step further on Monday, calling the development the first miracle of Pope John Paul II since he was beatified last weekend.

“I have said that his first miracle has been to remove from the Earth this demonic incarnation of crime, evil and hatred,” Peruvian president Alan Garcia said, according to CNN affiliate America TV in Peru.

“And I think that’s great news that should please Mr. Obama,” Garcia went on, referring to the U.S. president. “In some way, it also vindicates (former) President George W. Bush who made the decision to punish bin Laden and to patiently continue this work that is finally bearing fruit.”

Pope John Paul II, who died in April 2005, was beatified in Rome on Sunday, hours before Obama announced that bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan by U.S. Special Forces.

Beatification is the last step before sainthood and requires someone to have performed one miracle after his or her death. Sainthood requires the church to confirm a second miracle.

* Source: CNN

Tunisia protests see censorship and violence - Africa - Al Jazeera English

2011-05-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

Tunisia protests see censorship and violence - Africa - Al Jazeera English

2011-05-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

License to Kill? License Revoked.
Yesterday, the Interior Ministry of Iraq announced that it was revoking the license of Blackwater USA, a private American company that provides security to government and private officials in Iraq such as Amb. Ryan Crocker. Employees of the firm were involved in Baghdad shootout that killed at least nine civilians, including a mother and her child. Details of the shootout are murky. The shooting began after a car bomb exploded near a State Department motorcade in central Baghdad. Blackwater and U.S. officials say the security contractors then exchanged fire with armed attackers, but "three people who claimed to have witnessed the shooting" told McClatchy that "only the Blackwater guards were firing." Regardless, the incident has sent shockwaves through Iraq.

"We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory," said Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf. "We will also refer those involved to Iraqi judicial authorities." A senior Iraqi official, however, told Time that "as far as the license being permanently revoked, 'it's not a done deal yet.'"

Additionally, it is unlikely that Iraqi courts would have the legal ability to hold the contractors accountable. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Iraqi Prime Minister Mouri al-Maliki yesterday to offer condolences and the promise of a "fair and transparent investigation," one American official in Baghdad told The New York Times that "this incident will be the true test of diplomacy between the State Department and the government of Iraq."

THE FALLOUT: Approximately 1,000 Blackwater employees are currently operating in Iraq. If the Iraqi government is able to successfully kick Blackwater out of the country, the move would deal "a blow to U.S. government operations in Iraq by stripping" many "diplomats, engineers, reconstruction officials and others of their security protection." "There is simply no way at all that the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security could ever have enough full-time personnel to staff the security function in Iraq. There is no alternative except through contracts," said Crocker in his Senate testimony last week. The Iraqi government has also said that it will "review the status of all private security firms operating in the country" to "determine whether such contractors were operating in compliance with Iraqi law." The total number of private contractors in Iraq is estimated between 126,000 and 180,000, which includes 20,000 to 50,000 private security guards. The expulsion of Blackwater from Iraq would be a boon for Iraqi politicians as "newspapers in Iraq on Tuesday trumpeted the government's decision." Maliki is expected to "gain political capital from the move against unpopular foreign security contractors" while the national government as a whole would be given a political "boost."

PRIVATE CONTRACTOR'S DARK PAST: "Visible, aggressive" private contractors have "angered many Iraqis, who consider them a mercenary force that runs roughshod over people in their own country." At Abu Ghraib, "the U.S. Army found that contractors were involved in 36 percent of proven abuse incidents," but "not a single private contractor named in the Army's investigation report has been charged, prosecuted or punished." Though many other private security firms are operating in Iraq, Blackwater is perhaps the most visible. On March 31, 2004, four contractors working for Blackwater were brutally killed in Fallujah. After images of their mutilated bodies were shown hanging from a bridge, the American military laid siege to the city, resulting in some of the most intense fighting of the war. In Dec. 2006, a Blackwater employee allegedly drunkenly killed a guard for the Iraqi Vice President. Instead of being held accountable in Iraq, the contractor was smuggled out of the country and fired by the company. This past May, "Blackwater guards were involved in shooting incidents on consecutive days in Baghdad." In total, Interior Ministry officials say they have "received reports of at least a half-dozen incidents in which Blackwater guards allegedly shot civilians, far more than any other company."

LEGAL GREY AREA: "A Blackwater employee is not going to be subject to Iraqi courts," says Scott Silliman, director of the Center on Law, Ethics, and National Security at Duke University. The day before the Coalition Provisional Authority ceased to exist, L. Paul Bremer, the chief American envoy in Iraq, issued CPA Order 17, which "granted American private security contractors immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts." Though "the Iraqi government has contested the continued application of this order," they are restrained from "changing or revoking CPA orders," so the order is still in effect. It is unclear what U.S. laws would govern the actions of private security contractors operating in a foreign country. Though "uniformed military personnel are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and 'persons serving with or accompanying an armed force in the field' are technically subject as well," the application of the UCMJ to these private contractors would likely face constitutional challenges. The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000 covers civilians working for the Department of Defense, but even this would be insufficient to cover Blackwater employees involved in Sunday's shootout, since they are actually employed by the State Department.

*Taken from ummahnews.co.uk

Statement of the Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

2011-05-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

Regarding the Martyrdom of the Great Martyr Sheik Osama bin Laden

Jamadi-ul-Thani 02, 1432 A.H, Friday, May 06, 2011

In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Among the believers, there are men who have been true to their covenant with Allah. Some fulfilled their vow by death and some are still awaiting and they have not changed in the least. (S:33-V:23)

The Caller to Islamic Jihad against the invading infidels, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, embraced martyrdom as per the Will of the Almighty Allah during an abrupt attack by the American invading soldiers. (We are creation of Allah and return to Him.)

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan extends its deep condolence to the family of the martyr, to his followers and to fighter Mujahideen of the way of Truth and to the Islamic Ummah on this occasion of the great tragedy. We pray to the Almighty Allah to accept, in His Sight, the sacrifice of the martyr. May, the Almighty Allah, salvage the Islamic Ummah from the current situation of crisis due to the impact of the blessing of the sacred Jihad and martyrdom of the martyr.

The martyr took part in the Jihad against the Soviet invasion with great honesty and bravery shoulder to shoulder with the Afghans. He offered such sacrifices in this way that the history of the Islamic Ummah will for ever remain proud of. Sheikh Osama bin Laden was the ardent advocate of the legitimate cause of the first Qibla of the Muslims, the Aqsa Mosque and the occupied Palestine . He was an indefatigable fighter against the Christian and Jewish aggressions in the Islamic World and was not sparing any effort in this cause. The life of this Mujahid, who felt the antagonism against Islam, was full of fatigues, sacrifices and hardships. The history of Islam will always keep their memory alive.

The way of Jihad and the path of defense of Islam is a way fraught with sacrifices and martyrdoms. Like any other follower of this way, Sheikh Osama had been aspiring to attain martyrdom in the cause of the Almighty Allah. He reached his ambition with bravery, dedication and commitment in the last moments of his life.

If the invading Americans and their Allies wallow in this optimism that the morale and ranks of Mujahideen will weaken in Afghanistan and other occupied Islamic countries following the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden, it will only show their lack of insight. The sapling of Jihad has always grown, spruced and reached fructification through irrigation by pure blood. The martyrdom of a martyr leads to hundreds more to head to the field of martyrdom and sacrifice.

The current Jihadic movement of Afghanistan sprouted from among the masses and is representative of the aspirations of this proud people. In this land of the braves, a strike by colonialism breeds sympathy and produces (an urge) to strike back. If the Mujahid people were prone to submit to force and tyranny, then is there any gimmick both in terms of military muscles showdown and other devilish conspiracies that has been left by the Americans during the last decade? But the ground realities have it that the use of force brings in opposite consequences here. This popular movement can be bracketed with a spring which, when you pressurize, bounces back with the same intensity.

The Islamic Emirate believes, the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden will give a new impetus to the current Jihad against the invaders in this critical phase of Jihad. The tides of Jihad will gain strength and width. The forthcoming time will prove this both for the friends and the foes, if God willing.

The Leadership Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan

Theunjustmedia.com

LEAKED PICTURES : NEW FOOTAGE : OBL

2011-05-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

AL JAZEERA ENGLISH:

Pakistan leaks Bin Laden death scene photos
Gruesome photos purported to show victims of bin Laden raid leaked to press.

New footage emerges of bin Laden compound
Al Jazeera obtains new pictures showing interiors of house in Pakistan where al-Qaeda leader was killed.

Virtues of Martyrdom in the Path of Allah

2011-05-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

Adopted from the works of ash-Sheikh ash-Shaheed 'Abdullah Azzam rahimuAllaah.

“The life of the Ummah is connected to the ink of the scholars and the blood of the martyrs. What is more beautiful than to write the history of the Ummah with both the ink of the scholar and his blood, such that the map of Islamic history becomes coloured with two lines: one of them black, and that is what the scholar writes with the ink of his pen; and the second red, and that is what the martyr writes with his blood. And more beautiful than this is when the blood is one and the pen is one, so that the hand of the scholar, which expends the ink and moves the pen, is the same hand that expends his blood and moves the nations. The extent to which the number of martyred scholars increases, is the extent to which nations are delivered from their slumber, rescued from their decline and awoken from their sleep.

So history does not write its lines except with blood. Glory does not build its lofty edifice except with skulls. Honour and respect cannot be established except on a foundation of cripples and corpses. Empires, noble persons, states and societies, cannot be established except with examples"
ash-Sheikh ash-Shaheed ‘Abdullah Yoosuf ‘Azzam – May Allah have mercy upon you Ya Sheikhana! For your blood was not shed in vain after your assassination in 1989.

Glossary:
Shaheed: Lit. A witness, a martyr
Shuhadaa`: Plural of Shaheed - martyrs
Shahaadah: Lit. Testimony, martyrdom

1 – The blood of the Shaheed smells of musk:
“By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, no one is injured in the Path of Allah – and Allah knows best who is truly wounded in His Path – except that he comes (with his wound) on the Day of Resurrection, its colour the colour of blood, and its scent that of musk." [Muslim and Ahmad]

2 – The Most Beloved of the drops to Allah:
“There is nothing more beloved to Allah than two drops or two marks. The teardrop that falls from the fear of Allah, and the drop of blood shed in the Path of Allah. And as for the marks, then a mark in the Path of Allah, and a mark in an obligation from the obligations unto Allah”. (Hasan, reported by at-Tirmidhi)

"al-Jihad" is the intended meaning of the phrase “in the Path of Allah” as explained by Ibn Hajr al-'Asqalaani in Fath al-Bari.

About the meaning of "Jihad" Ibn Rushd said: “The word Jihad when it is uttered means to fight the disbelievers with the sword, until they accept Islam, or pay the Jizya (tax) by hand in a state of humiliation”

3 – The Shaheed Wishes to Return to this World:
“Any slave [of Allah] who dies and has been bestowed good from Allah, does not wish to return to the World, even if he is given the World and what it contains; except a Shaheed, due to what he sees from the virtues of Shahaadah [Martyrdom]. So he wishes to return to the World in order to be killed again” – and in another wording – “So that he may be killed ten times due to what he receives from the honour” [al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Scholars differed with regards to the reasons behind naming a martyr “Shaheed” (lit. a witness). Al-Azhari says, “This is because Allah and His Messenger bear witness that he is in Paradise” an-Nadhr says, “ash-Shaheed (a witness), is alive, so they were named that because they are alive with their Lord”.

It is also said, “Because the angels of mercy bear witness and take his soul”, and “he is from those who will be a witness unto nations”, and “He is witnessed to have Iman and a good end in his outward appearance”, and “because his blood bears witness for him on the Day of Judgment”.

Sheikh 'Abdullah Azzam says: "They are Shuhadaa` [witnesses] to the fact that this Deen is greater than life, and that values are more important than blood, and that principles are more precious than souls"

4 – Haarithah in the Highest Firdaws:
The Prophet – May the Salaah and Salaam of Allah be upon him – said to Umm Haarithah bint an-Nu’maan – after her son was killed in the battle of Badr – after she asked: “Where is he (i.e. is he in Paradise or the Fire)?” – he replied, “Indeed, he is in the highest Firdaws” [al-Bukhaari]

In another Hadeeth reported by al-Bukhaari:

“Indeed, in Paradise are a hundred levels which Allah has prepared for the Mujahideen in His Path. The distance between each level is that of between the heavens and the earth. So when you ask of Allah, then ask Him for Firdaws, for it is the center of Paradise, and the highest part of Paradise, and above it is the throne of The Most Merciful, from whence, the highest Firdaws, the rivers of Paradise spring forth”

5 – The Souls of the Shuhadaa` in the Hearts of Green Birds:
“Indeed the souls of the martyrs are in the hearts of green birds, and they have lanterns hanging underneath the 'arsh (the throne of Allaah). They roam around in Paradise wherever they wish, then they return to their lanterns. So, their Lord enquires: “Do you desire anything?” They say, “What can we desire for, when we roam around in Paradise wherever we wish?” And He asks them this three times. When they realize that they will not cease to be questioned, they say, “O Lord! We wish that you return our souls to our bodies, in order that we be killed in Your Path again” When it is realized that they have no need, they will be left alone.” [Muslim]

6 – Special Favours for the Shaheed:
“The Shaheed is granted seven special favours from Allah. He is forgiven (his sins) at the first drop of his blood. He sees his place in Paradise. He is dressed in the clothes of Iman. He is married to the Hoor al-‘Ain (beautiful women of Paradise). He is saved from the punishment of the grave. He will be protected from the great fear of the Day of Judgement. A crown of honour will be placed on his head, one jewel of which is better than the whole world and what it contains. He is married to seventy-two of the Hoor al-‘Ain (beautiful women of Paradise), and he will be able to intercede for seventy members of his family.” [Saheeh – Related by Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Hibbaan]

7 – The Shuhadaa` of Uhud:
“When your brothers were killed at Uhud, Allah placed their souls in the hearts of green birds. They frequent the rivers of Paradise, and eat from its fruits, then return to the lanterns under the Throne. When they enjoy the good in their food and drink, and their excellent speech, they say, “We wish that our brothers knew what Allah has prepared for us, so that they will never abstain from Jihad, nor will they refrain from war” So Allah said, “I will inform them of you” So Allah revealed these verses to His Messenger:

“Think not of those killed in the Path of Allah is dead...” (3:169) [Ahmad, Abu Dawud, al-Hakim classified it Saheeh and adh-Dhahabi agreed]

8 – The Shuhadaa` beside the Baariq river:
“The Shuhadaa` are in a green dome beside the river of Baariq, near the gate of Paradise, from which provision comes to them morning and evening” [Saheeh al-Jami 3/235 # 3636]

9 – ash-Shahaadah is better than cities and villages:
“To be killed in the Path of Allah is more beloved to me than that people of cities and villages belong to me” [Ahmad – narrators are trustworthy, and the chain is strong]

10 – The Shaheed does not feel the pain of death:
“The Shaheed does not feel [any pain] from killing, except as one of you feels the prick of a needle” [Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasaa`I and the Sanad is Hasan]

11 – Levels of Shuhadaa`:
“The best of the Shuhadaa` are those who fight in the frontlines, and do not turn away their faces until they are killed. They will be thrown into the highest rooms of Paradise, and Allah will laugh at them. And when your Lord laughs at a slave in a certain instance, then there is no account for him” [Ahmad with Saheeh chain (Saheeh al-Jami 1118)]

12 – There are three types of those killed:
“There are three types of those killed. A Mu`min man (a firm believer), who makes Jihad with his wealth and his self in the Path of Allah until he meets the enemy and fights them until he is killed. Then that is the Shaheed who has been tested[to be] in the camp of Allah under His Throne. The Prophets are not better than him, except by the level of Prophethood.

And a man who oppresses his soul with sins and errors, who makes Jihad with his self and his wealth in the Path of Allah, until he meets the enemy and fights until he is killed. Then that is Mumasmasatun (a purifier) that expiates his sins and errors. Indeed, the sword wipes away errors. And he enters [Paradise] from any of the gates of Paradise he wishes. For indeed [the Paradise] has eight gates, and the Hell has seven gates, and some [of the gates] are better than others.

And a hypocrite man, who makes Jihad with his self and his wealth, until he meets the enemy and fights in the Path of Allah until he is killed, then indeed he is in the Hellfire. Verily, the sword does not wipe off an-Nifaaq (hypocrisy)”[Ahmad with Hasan chain, and Ibn Hibbaan classified it Saheeh]

13 – Which killed person is the best?
The Prophet – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – was asked: “Which killed person is the best?” He replied, “The one whose blood flows and whose limbs are cut [with the sword] in the Path of Allah”. [Ahmad, Abu Dawud and the narrators are trustworthy]

14 – Master of the Shuhadaa`:
“The master of the Shuhadaa` is Hamzah Ibn ‘Abdul-Muttalib, and a man who stands up to a tyrannical ruler, and orders him [with good] and forbids him [from wrong], due to which [the ruler] kills him” [Hasan, reported by al-Haakim and adh-Dhiyaa`]

15 – The Soul of the Martyr Eats from the Fruits of Paradise:
“Verily, the souls of the Shuhadaa` are in the hearts of green birds, that eat from the fruits of the Paradise”[Saheeh, reported by at-Tirmidhi from Ka’b Ibn Malik, and it is also in Saheeh al-Jami #1555]

16 – “Bury the killed in the places where they fought” [Saheeh, reported by the four from Jaabir, and it is also in Saheeh al-Jami # 247]

17 – “There are five (deaths) due to which a person is a Shaheed: The one killed in the Path of Allah is Shaheed, the one who drowns in the Path of Allah is a Shaheed, the one who dies due to stomach illness in the Path of Allah is a Shaheed, the one who dies of plague in the Path of Allah is a Shaheed, and the woman who died in childbirth is a Shaheedah” [Saheeh, reported by an-Nisaa`i from ‘Uqbah Ibn Naafi’. Also found in Saheeh al-Jami #3249]

18 – “Whoever sincerely asks Allah for Shahaadah, Allah raises him to the levels of the Shuhadaa`, even if he dies on his bed” [Saheeh, reported by Muslim and the four from Sahl bin Haneef. Also in Saheeh al-Jami’ #6152]

Seeking martyrdom with sincerity means making preparation for it as Allah said: “If they really intended to go out [in Jihad] they would have made some preparation” (9:46)

19 – “One who falls down from his beast then he is a Shaheed” [Saheeh, at-Tabarani from Uqbah bin Nafi’. Also in Saheeh al-Jami #6212]

Also, in the Hadeeth of Umm Haraam bint Milhaan, “she went out [for Jihad] with her husband, ‘Ubaadah bin as-Saamit, on the first naval expedition by the Muslims lead by Mu’awiyah. When they turned back from their expedition, returning home, and anchored at ash-Shaam, her beast was brought near to her so that she may mount, but she fell and died.” [al-Bukhari]

This Hadeeth is also a proof for the fact that the ruling of the one returning from Jihad is the ruling of the one going to Jihad.

20 – “One who is killed defending his wealth is a Shaheed, one who is killed defending his blood is a Shaheed, one who is killed defending his religion is a Shaheed, and one who is killed defending his family is a Shaheed” [Saheeh, reported by Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nisaa`i and Ahmad from Sa’eed bin Zaid. Also in Saheeh al-Jami’ #6321]

This is known in Fiqh as “Repulsing the Aggressor”. An “Aggressor” is the one who assaults the honour, lives and wealth.

The scholars from the four schools of Fiqh have agreed upon the obligation of repelling the aggressor who assaults the honour. As for the aggressor assaulting life and property, then it is obligatory – according to the majority – to repel him, which agrees with the correctly chosen opinion of the Maliki and Shafi’i Math-hab, even if it results in killing of a Muslim aggressor.

Al-Jassas said, “We do not know if any difference, in a case where if a man raises his sword against a person to kill him without right, that the Muslims are obliged to repel him” Ibn Taymiya says, “As for the aggressive enemy, who assaults the religion and the worldly life, nothing becomes an obligation after Iman, than repelling him”

21 – “One who is killed repelling oppression is a Shaheed” [Reported by an-Nisaa`i and adh-Dhiyaa` from Suwaid bin Muqrin. Also in al-Jami’ #6323]

This is also explained in a Hadeeth narrated by Abu Hurairah and reported by Muslim: that a person came to the Prophet – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – and said, “O Messenger of Allah, What if a person comes who wants to take my property?” He replied, “Then don’t give him your property” The man said, “What if he fights me?” He replied,“Fight him back” The man said,“What if he kills me?” He replied, “Then you are a Shaheed” The man said, “What if I kill him?” He replied, “He is in the Hellfire”.

22 – Desiring Shahaadah:
“By Him in whose Hand is my soul, were it not for some men amongst the believers, who disliked to be left behind me, and for whom I cannot provide any means of conveyance, I would certainly never remain behind any unit setting out for a military expedition in the Path of Allah. By Him in whose Hand is my soul, I would love to be killed in the Path of Allah, then be brought back to life again, then killed, then be brought back to life then killed, and then be brought back to life then killed” [al-Bukhari from Abu Hurairah]

Likewise, it is authentically reported about the Shaheed that he “would desire to return to this world, and be killed 10 times due to what he sees from honour”.

23 – “A Military expedition in the sea is better than ten military expeditions on land. And the one who traverses is as if he has traversed all the valleys. A seasick person is like the one covered with his blood” [Saheeh, related by al-Hakim from Ibn ‘Amr]

24 – “Every sin of a Shaheed is forgiven except debt” [Related by Muslim from Ibn ‘Amr]

As al-Qurtubi stated about the Shaheed who is barred from entering Paradise, that his soul is beside the river at the gate of Paradise, called “Baariq”, in a green dome from which provision comes to them morning and evening – and Allah knows best.

There comes an important question: Which of the two obligations overrule the other? Should he go in the Path of Allah? Or should he work until he pays off his debts and then go?

Here we say – may Allah give us ability: When a hand span of Muslim land is attacked, Jihad becomes an individual obligation, whereby a debtor may leave without the permission of his creditor, just as a boy may leave without the permission of his father, and this is a matter of agreement amongst the Salaf and the Khalaf of this Ummah.

Similarly, the debtor should evaluate the situation. If he is not able to pay off the debt, then he should leave and not wait to pay off the debt. And if the debtor is able to pay off the debt, then he should further evaluate the situation, and if he thinks that after paying off the debt, the creditor will use the payment for Jihad in the Path of Allah, then it is obligatory to pay off the debt, in order to achieve two benefits: paying off the debt, as well as aiding Jihad. This is how Ibn Taymiya has issued fatwa in al-Fatawa al-Kubra 4/183.

Ibn Taymiya also says: “It is obligatory upon the women to make Jihad with their wealth if they have this bounty, and similarly with the wealth of children. For if the enemy attacks, then to repel their harm upon the religion, lives and honour is obligatory by consensus”

25 – The Shaheed who did not bow down to Allah once:
“On the authority of Abu Hurairah: Amr ibn Uqaysh had given usurious loans in pre-Islamic period; so he disliked to embrace Islam until he took them. He came on the day of Uhud and asked: Where are my cousins? They (the people) replied: At Uhud. He asked: Where is so-and-so? They said: At Uhud. He asked: Where is so-and-so? They said: At Uhud. He then put on his coat of mail and rode his horse; he then proceeded towards them. When the Muslims saw him, they said: Keep away, Amr. He said: I have become a believer. He fought until he was wounded. He was then taken to his family wounded. Sa'd ibn Mu'adh came to his sister: Ask him (whether he fought) out of partisanship, out of anger for them, or out of anger for Allah. He said: Out of anger of Allah and His Apostle. He then died and entered Paradise. He did not offer any prayer to Allah.” [al-Haafidh said in al-Isaabah – its chain is strong, narrated by the group from Ibn Ishaaq]

26 – A Shaheed killed by his own weapon:
On the authority of Salamah bin al-Akwa’ who said: On the Day of Khaibar, my brother fought very fiercely, but he was hit by his own sword and killed. So the companions of the Messenger of Allah – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – said after having doubts about him [Salamah’s brother], “The man died due to his own weapon” So the Prophet – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – said, “He died while making Jihad, as a Mujahid” Ibn Shahaab said: I then asked Salamah Ibn al-Akwa’s son, so he narrated to me from his father the like of it, except that he also said: The Messenger of Allah – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – said,“They have lied! He died while making Jihad, as a Mujahid, so he will be rewarded twice”

[Extracted by Bukhari and Muslim and it is also found in the summarised Sunan Abi Dawud #2427]

On the authority of Abu Salaam – the Ethiopian – narrates about a man from the companions of the Prophet – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – so he says: We attacked a area from the Juhayna [tribe], so a man from the Muslims sought after a man from the tribe [to fight him], and he struck him but erred and injured himself with the sword. So the Messenger of Allah – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – said, “Your brother! O Muslims! [i.e. save him!]”, so the people rushed to him but found him dead. So the Messenger of Allah – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – wrapped him with his garment and his blood, prayed over him and then buried him. So the people said: O Messenger of Allah, is he Shaheed? He replied, “Yes! And I am a Shaheed for him [i.e. I bear witness to his martyrdom].”

[Abu Dawud and al-Mundhiri remained silent, thus it is Hasan. Also found in al-Mukhtasar #2428]

27 – Chapter: It should not be said that so and on is a Shaheed:
This is how Imaam al-Bukhari titled the chapter for the Hadeeth: Amongst the companions of the Messenger of Allah – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – was a man who would not leave any isolated or detached person except that he would chase him and strike him with his sword. So they said: No one performed better than us today the way such person surpassed us. So he said – may the Salaah and the Salaam of Allah be upon him – “As for him then verily he is in fire”.

At the end of the Hadeeth, the person commits suicide.

As for the statement of al-Bukhaari: "It is not said that such and such is Shaheed", then Ibn Hajr said commenting on his words, “Meaning, in absolute sense”

The meaning of the words of al-Bukhaari and Ibn Hajr is that we do not rule about the one killed on the battlefield that he is Shaheed and that he will enter Paradise. This is because entry into Paradise is a matter that rests on the intention of the one killed, and that is only in the knowledge of Allah. It is also a principle of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah that we do not rule a person to be either in Paradise nor Hellfire.

As for calling the one killed in the battlefield a “Shaheed” in order to apply the legal rulings of a Shaheed, based on a strong speculation, hence, not wrapping him in a shroud, nor washing him, nor praying over him, then this case has been supported by the vast majority of the Salaf and the Khalaf.

Thus, Ibn Hajr states, “Due to this reason, the Salaf practiced calling martyrs of Badr and Uhud and others “Shuhadaa`”, intending by it, the apparent ruling based on a strong speculation – and Allah knows best” [Fath al-Bari 6/90]

In fact, some of the Muhadditheen, such as Ibn Katheer would use the phrase “Istush-hida” (meaning“became Shaheed”) for someone who did not even die in a battle. So he says about al-Fadhl-ubn-ul-‘Abbas in al-Bidaayati wan-Nihaayah [4/96]:“Istush-hida (He became Shaheed) due to a plague epidemic”. Likewise, he says about al-Haarith bin Hishaam [4/95] “Istush-hida bish-Shaam” (meaning, ‘he became Shaheed in Shaam’)

Ibn Kathir also says about an-Nu’maan bin Muqrin al-Muzani [4/123]: “[‘Umar] al-Faarooq sent him is a leader over the forces to Nahaawand. So Allah bestowed by his hands a great conquest, and Allah established him in that land, and established him as an authority over those servants, and through him Allah established the Muslims there until the Yawm at-Tunaad (lit. the Day of Calling – meaning the Day of Resurrection), and He granted him victory in this world, and on the Day when the witnesses will stand forth, (i.e. Day of Resurrection). And He granted him, after seeing how he loved the magnificent Shahaadah, which is the desired objective. So he became from those, about whom Allah, the Most High said in His clear Book, which is the straight path, “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers, their lives and their properties, and in return for them is Paradise” [at-Tawbah]

Islam Is Fitrah

Levels Of The People in the Hereafter

JUDGING IMAAN AND KUFR BY WHAT IS APPARENT

'Izzah: Forgotten Concept, Lost Virtue

What would ‘Umar say if he could see us today? Given that we are as many as the foam upon the sea, and as useless? What would he say today, when our brothers and sisters are collateral damage, slaughtered left, right, and centre on demand while the rest us of are impotent to protect them?

The problem is that we have forgotten the concept of ‘izzah (honour). We have forgotten that no matter what our physical or financial state is, Allah has placed us in a position of superiority over all other creation.

By virtue of our tawheed, our emaan, our Islam, we are better than anyone else. And yes, while that sounds politically incorrect, our Rabb has clearly stated:

Surely those who disbelieve from among the followers of the Book and the polytheists shall be in the fire of hell, abiding therein; they are the worst of men.

(And) lo! those who believe and do good deeds, they are the best of creation. (al-Bayyinah, 6-7)

You are the best of people among all peoples, for you command Al-Maruf and forbid Al-Munkar, and you submit [in belief] to Allah. 3:110

Knowing this, why then do we still have inferiority complexes? Why do we find ourselves asking for help from those responsible for oppressing us? Why do we lower ourselves to such a position?

The fact of the matter is that we have lost our ‘izzah. We have lost the understanding of what it is and how we are to attain it.

So what is this ‘izzah? How do we attain it, and how do we lose it? How do we put this forgotten concept into practice, especially in this day and age? Insha’Allah, these questions and more will be answered in the following articles.

Part One: Literary Origins and Islamic Understanding

The Arabic word ‘izzah is from ayn-zay-zay, which means might, honour, respect, dignity, prestige, fame and glory. It also means to have the upper hand; sometimes ‘izzah is used positively for praise, and sometimes it’s used negatively for arrogance (such as surah Saad ayah 2).

عز/ العزة

‘Azz/ ‘Izzah

‘Azz

The root word for I’zzah, Azeez and Uzzah is ‘Azz which means to be or become strong, powerful or/and respected.

‘Azz’ can also mean to overpower/defeat.

{…and He overpowered Me In speech.} [Saad 23]

This is because there is a saying in Arabic من عز بز ‘whoever overpowers will defeat’, due to the other being more powerful in debating and speaking, and this is how he overpowered him in speech.

‘Izzah

Al ‘Izzah is a state which prevents a person from being overcome. When the Arabs call a land عزاز [‘azaaz’] they mean it is hard, solid, stiff and rigid.

Linguistically this term means: might/ power/ standing/ strength/ force/ honour/ glory/ high rank/ fame/ pride.

In the Qur’aan, ‘Izzah is sometimes mentioned in a praiseworthy sense and at other times it is mentioned in a blameworthy sense as the examples below illustrate:

‘But honour, power and Glory belong to Allaah, his Messenger (Muhammad Sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe Wa Sallam), and to the believers’ [Al Munaafiqoon 8]

‘Do they seek honour, power and Glory with them? Verily, then to Allâh belongs all honour, power and glory.’ [Al Nisaa 139]

Nay, those who disbelieve are in false pride and opposition. [Saad 2]

And when it is said to him, “Fear Allâh”, he is led by arrogance to (more) crime. So enough for Him is Hell, and worst indeed is that place to rest! [Al Baqarah 206]

And they have taken (for worship) âliha (gods) besides Allâh, that they might give them honour, power, and glory (and also protect them from Allâh’s punishment etc.). [Maryam 81]

If only man would understand that honour belongs to Allah alone,

Whosoever desires honour, power, and glory, then to Allâh belongs all honour, power, and glory [Faatir 10]

(The above was taken from this pdf at IdealMuslimah.com)

Thus, we can see that in general, ‘izzah can be described as honour, dignity, and higher status. Hereafter, we shall use the term interchangeably with ‘honour’ for easier comprehension.

So:

‘Izzah is honour. And what is honour?

It’s not something tangible that we can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Honour is something else, something higher, something far more noble. It is pride and confidence, an aura of strength and serenity. It is a type of knowledge, a type of belief.

There was a time when any man, woman, or child would rather die than sacrifice their honour. Honour was a sense of pride and dignity people had that came from being absolutely confident and resolute in their beliefs, values, and identity.

‘Izzah is attained by worshipping Allah alone, obeying His commands, avoiding what He has prohibited, and placing our entire reliance upon Him and Him alone.

‘Izzah is borne of action, and is manifested as attitude. It is an attitude of superiority and of confidence, an attitude which we need to reclaim.

Allah has stated repeatedly that He has chosen al-Islam as the only acceptable religion and that the true believers are those whom He has chosen as the khulafaa’ of this Earth.

The (only) religion with Allah is Islaam, but if they dispute with you, say, “I have submitted myself entirely to Allah.” (3:19 – 20)

And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers. (3:85)

So, do not become weak or sad, and you are superior if you are believers. [Al 'Imran; 139]

Once this is recognized, then we must go back to what we said in the beginning – this superiority and honour, this‘izzah, comes only from studying, understanding, and implementing Islam correctly in every sphere of our lives.

“So whoever hopes to see his Lord and be rewarded by Him, then let him make his worship correct and make it purely and exclusively for Him; and let him not give any share of it to other than Him.” [Surah al-Kahf 18:110].

“Say: ‘O Allah. Lord of Power (And Rule), You give power to whom You please, and You strip off power from whom You please: You endow with honor whom You please, and You bring low whom You please: In Your hand is all good. Verily, over all things You have power.’” (3:26).

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** Ya ibnii - fil jannah **

*Nasheed * في ليل هان بسكون

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Ya ibnii - fil jannah

Nasheed في ليل هان بسكون