Can't Stay If You're Gay, B&B Tells Couple
Yesterday, 06:07 pm
SkyNews © Sky News 22/3/2010
A gay couple have complained to the police after being turned away from a bed and breakfast because of their sexuality.
The website for the Swiss Bed and Breakfast in Cookham, Berkshire, promises a "warm and friendly welcome".
But when Michael Black, 62, and 56-year-old John Morgan, from Brampton, Cambridgeshire, turned up on Friday the owner was immediately wary of them.
Mr Black told Sky News: "We said we'd booked a double room and she then said 'It goes against my convictions to have two men sharing'."
The couple had booked the Zurich room at the property on the internet.
When they informed owners Susanne and Mike Wilkinson it was illegal to turn them away on the grounds of their sexuality, they claim she said that because the property was her private home she was not breaking the law.
The Wilkinsons said: "We turned them away because we have a Christian faith and for us to allow people to engage in homosexual activity within our house would go against our faith." MWENYEZI MUNGU ATAWALIPA KWA HILI, AMIN.
The two men were given a refund and the following day they made an official complaint to the police.
Thames Valley Police say it is a civil rather than criminal offence, so it is up to the two men whether they want to take any further action.
Both men said they were shocked to meet such homophobia. They are surprised by the media interest in their story but are hopeful it will raise awareness of the legal situation for proprietors who were unaware.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
AMKUFURU MUNGU KWA NEEMA ALIZOPEWA
ONI: Ana uhakika gani Bwana huyu kama MUNGU ATAMUWEKA hadi huko 2015? Ana uhakika gani kwamba Mungu atamjaalia hao watoto waliobaki ili atimize azma ya MIA MOJA 2015? TUMUOMBEE mja huyu arejee kwa MUNGU wake kwa KUMSHUKURU kwa alichokwishajaaliwa, inshaallah, amin.
Super Dad want to have 100 Children - Imehifadhiwa humu 22 Machi, 2010.
AJMAN - AUG 20: A one-legged father-of-63 is preparing for his next two marriages as he closes in on his target of having 100 children by 2015. UAE national Daad Mohammed Murad Abdul Rahman , 63, has already had 15 brides, though he divorces wives to make way for new ones in order to stay within the legal limit of four. His youngest child, Tariq, is 20 days old and his oldest, Ayoob, is 36. And he has more babies on the way from two of his three current wives.
Daad Mohammed lost a leg in a road accident and plans to have an artificial limb fitted in Jaipur in India – and while there he hopes to find one of his new brides. One more has already been lined up in Baluchistan , Pakistan .
"In 2015 I will be 68 years old and will have 100 children," he said. "After that I will stop marrying. I have to have at least three more marriages to hit the century.
"Two of my wives are pregnant and they will give birth within two months.Tariq was delivered by my wife Mariam. He is healthy and happy and will have two more brothers or sisters soon. And I am also happy because Allah is giving me more children." The retired truck-driver, policeman and soldier has two other babies – fourmonth-old Alma and eightmonth-old Sara.
Two other children, Adnan and Sulaiman, are under two years old. His wives and exwives include Bedouins from the UAE plus women from India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Iran and Oman . They live in Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Daad Mohammed, whose home is in Al Bustan, Ajman , spends time with each of them and has a family gettogether every Friday.
He is head of possibly the largest single UAE dynasty with 127 members, including 49 grandchildren, and has 15 houses. Two of his wives have died. Now he is going to have the same type of artificial limb – known as the Jaipur foot – that Indian dancer Sudha Chandran uses.
"After Ramadan, I will go to Jaipur to get an artificial leg and marry a beautiful Rajasthani girl," he told Emirates Today. "I have had seven Indian brides.
"At present I use a crutch to move around. I am told that the Jaipur foot works better than other artificial limbs." Daad Mohammed said he received generous support from the Ajman Government, including houses and cash. He was paid a military pension of Dh24,000 a month by the Abu Dhabi Government.
"Even though my family is big, I don't have any problem managing the budget," he said. "If I buy fish for the entire family I have to spend a minimum of Dh500 per day. If the menu includes mutton at least Dh1,000 per day is required, and that's just for the meat." And despite having so many offspring he does not overlook the vital duty of any dad. He added: "I take care of their requirements – and pay pocket money to each and every child."
Super Dad want to have 100 Children - Imehifadhiwa humu 22 Machi, 2010.
AJMAN - AUG 20: A one-legged father-of-63 is preparing for his next two marriages as he closes in on his target of having 100 children by 2015. UAE national Daad Mohammed Murad Abdul Rahman , 63, has already had 15 brides, though he divorces wives to make way for new ones in order to stay within the legal limit of four. His youngest child, Tariq, is 20 days old and his oldest, Ayoob, is 36. And he has more babies on the way from two of his three current wives.
Daad Mohammed lost a leg in a road accident and plans to have an artificial limb fitted in Jaipur in India – and while there he hopes to find one of his new brides. One more has already been lined up in Baluchistan , Pakistan .
"In 2015 I will be 68 years old and will have 100 children," he said. "After that I will stop marrying. I have to have at least three more marriages to hit the century.
"Two of my wives are pregnant and they will give birth within two months.Tariq was delivered by my wife Mariam. He is healthy and happy and will have two more brothers or sisters soon. And I am also happy because Allah is giving me more children." The retired truck-driver, policeman and soldier has two other babies – fourmonth-old Alma and eightmonth-old Sara.
Two other children, Adnan and Sulaiman, are under two years old. His wives and exwives include Bedouins from the UAE plus women from India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , Iran and Oman . They live in Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Daad Mohammed, whose home is in Al Bustan, Ajman , spends time with each of them and has a family gettogether every Friday.
He is head of possibly the largest single UAE dynasty with 127 members, including 49 grandchildren, and has 15 houses. Two of his wives have died. Now he is going to have the same type of artificial limb – known as the Jaipur foot – that Indian dancer Sudha Chandran uses.
"After Ramadan, I will go to Jaipur to get an artificial leg and marry a beautiful Rajasthani girl," he told Emirates Today. "I have had seven Indian brides.
"At present I use a crutch to move around. I am told that the Jaipur foot works better than other artificial limbs." Daad Mohammed said he received generous support from the Ajman Government, including houses and cash. He was paid a military pension of Dh24,000 a month by the Abu Dhabi Government.
"Even though my family is big, I don't have any problem managing the budget," he said. "If I buy fish for the entire family I have to spend a minimum of Dh500 per day. If the menu includes mutton at least Dh1,000 per day is required, and that's just for the meat." And despite having so many offspring he does not overlook the vital duty of any dad. He added: "I take care of their requirements – and pay pocket money to each and every child."
Sunday, March 21, 2010
NAMNA 80 NA ZAIDI ZA KUULINGANIA UISLAM
More Than Eighty Ways To Make Daw'ah! Written by Dr. Bilal Philips
Imesambazwa kwa hisani YA DADA Saada Alghafry wa Muscat, 21/3/2010.
At Home: MAJUMBANI KWETU:
1. Household library. Prepare a collection of books, magazines and tapes according to what is suitable for the various age groups (with consideration of what are suitable for all the members of the family).
2. Posters. Make a bulletin board for the home on which announcements for Islaamic lectures and events can be posted in order to remind the family of important events and lectures.
3. Family lessons. Read from a book, listen to a tape or memorize a portion from the Qur'aan and hadeeth together as a group.
4. Family Competitions. Engage family members in Islaamic competitions and maybe the prize is writing the winner's name on the honor roll in the house).
5. Family Magazine. Create a family magazine by having family members participate writing essays or in cutting articles and pictures related to Islaam from the magazines and newspapers which you bring home.
6. Participation in Islaamic Social Work. Have your brother or son accompany you to the prayers, lectures or to visit a sick person or a scholar or the offices of Da'wah.
7. Righteous Acts in Public. Do some righteous acts in front of the family, such as prayer, reading Qur'aan and giving charity, as an example for them to learn from.
At the Mosque: MISIKITINI
8. Participation in the Wall Magazine. In most mosques there are bulletin boards at the back with announcements and Islaamic posters. Contribute articles to the board and purchase beneficial and informative posters for it.
9. Development of the Mosque's Facilities and Programs. Participate in developing the mosque's Da'wah facilities and activities such as its library, Qur'aan memorization classes and its contribution's box.
10. Providing Books and Tapes. Collect good books, booklets, pamphlets and tapes from Islaamic charitable organizations and put them in various locations in the mosque. For example, it is possible to place the literature in the Qur'aan shelves and in particular the Qur'aanic commentaries and their translations in different languages.
11. Advertisement for Mosque's Programs. Announce the topics and timings for new lectures and classes in the mosque and post advertisements for them on the bulletin boards and on the doors of the mosque.
12. Lectures. Invite a good lecturers know to you to give lectures at the mosque or contact organizations like the Awqaaf or other Da'wah organizations to provide lecturers for your local mosque on a regular basis.
13. Translation of Friday Khutbah. Arrange with the Awqaaf for the translation of the Friday sermon into the languages of the majority of those who attend Jumu'ah in your local mosque.
14. Mosque Committee. Participation in the mosque's committee which organizes the mosque's Da'wah programs and its and social activities.
At School: KATIKA VITUO VYA ELIMU AU SHULENI
15. Morning Assembly. Help to prepare da'wah oriented material for the morning assembly and the school's morning broadcast.
16. Bulletin Boards. Prepare attractive posters advertising internal extra curricular activities as well as external Islaamic lectures and classes for the various bulletin boards around the school.
17. Drama Activities. Participate in the drama activity in the school by developing Islaamic plays and themes.
18. Lectures. Arrange for the visits of various speakers and callers to the school. Focus on open forums in which students are able to ask the questions which are most important to them, thereby making Islaam seem more relevant.
19. Competitions. Organize Islaamic and academic educational competitions between the students and schools and distribute Islaamic prizes. Use such occasions as a means to talk about the importance and responsibility of da'wah.
20. Facilitating Student Input. Collect students' suggestions and complaints and present them to the school authorities. Give full support to student opinions on important issues, especially those related to Islaam.
21. Islaamic Library. Help the Islamic studies department to develop a strong and varied section for Islaam in the school's general library. Focus on Islaamic novels and stories of the Companions and others.
22. Exhibitions and Expositions. Participate in book and tape exhibitions or anti-drug epositions, etc. which are officially organized by the school.
23. Islaamic Week. Request that the school dedicate a week annually to Islaamic exhibitions, displays, posters, artifacts, videos, books and tapes.
24. Summer Holidays. Introduce Islaamic content in the summer vacation activities of the school.
At the Work Place: MAHALI PA KAZI
25. Da'wah Posters. Put up Da'wah posters and announcements for Islaamic events on the office's bulletin boards.
26. Your Desk. Keep Da'wah material on your desk at all times, among your books, in a rack as well as on your own bulletin board.
27. Tape Distribution. Distribute tapes of recent lectures relevant to co-workers. Especially those with catchy titles that address materialism.
28. Invitations. Invite interested co-workers to lectures and other Islamic events, as well as to visit Islaamic da'wah offices.
29. Congregational Prayer. Establish congregational prayer in the office or invite co-workers to accompany you to the nearby mosque.
30. Islaamic Socialization. Organize social gatherings and invite Islamic propagators to join you as informal guests.
31. Open Discussions. Encourage Islamic discussions during lunch and tea breaks.
32. Islaamic Projects. Gather other active Muslims in the office to initiate Islamic charitable projects on your job.
33. The Islaamic Example. Do your job to the best of your ability at all times as a good Islamic example to your co-workers.
General Means of Da'wah: NAMNA NYINGINEZO ZA ULINGANIAJI:
34. Da'wah Posters. Create or purchase a variety of beautiful eye-catching posters whose scenes match though-provoking Islaamic texts or suitable Da'wah situations and put them in appropriate locations around the city.
35. Muslim Greeting Cards. Print and distribute congratulatory cards and Eed cards, as well as cards commemorating other occasions of Islaamic significance which contain beneficial da'wah messages and slogans.
36. Da'wah Album. Collect awe-inspiring pictures and powerful Da'wah slogans in da'wah albums which may be kept for visitors and guests or given as a gift.
37. Marriage Invitation Cards. Turn the cover of a useful pamphlet into a marriage invitation card as a means of reaching all who attend. For example, where people are accustomed to a number of un-Islaamic practices during marriage, a well-known booklet on the etiquette of marriage could become the marriage invitation card.
38. Revision or Typing. Request the person you wish to invite to Islaam to revise or type out a da'wah article as a means of indirectly exposing them to the Islaamic information you wish to get across to them.
39. Da'wah Mobile. Send da'wah messages by mobile to the general public or by email to mass mailing lists as reminders for religious occasions or lectures, etc.
40. The Internet. Utilize the Internet for da'wah conversations or participate in any of the many the chat rooms in which Islaam is being maligned on the net.
41. The Media. Participate in spreading the Da'wah by developing and presenting radio and TV programs or writing Islaamic articles in local newspapers. These programs should be widely advertised through the many means of communication mentioned.
42. Stickers. Arrange for the posting of stickers containing beneficial Islaamic reminders in appropriate locations like the prayer for traveling and riding vehicles in buses, airplanes. Distribute stickers containing the supplications for various occasions like leaving and entering the home, the toilet, etc., for people to put around the home. Negotiate with hotels and other such institutions to post stickers with beneficial advice like the sticker showing the direction of the Qiblah in hotel rooms, etc, to remind residents of prayer and help them to do so properly.
43. Schedules. Post schedules of the prayer timings and Ramadaan fasting timings, on bulletin boards in suitable locations around the city as prayer reminders and guides for those fasting.
44. Diaries and Agendas. Publish or print diaries, agendas and educational schedules containing Da'wah reminders as well as significant Islaamic dates and occasions.
45. Calling Cards. Print attractive calling cards with Da'wah information and arrange to have shops include them with their products when giving them to their customers.
46. Post Cards. Design post cards with attractive local scenes or landmarks with brief Islaamic messages on the back. For example, a post card with a picture of a date farm could have on the back a Qur'aanic reference to the water cycle.
47. The Da'wah Briefcase. Purchase and distribute Da'wah briefcases manufactured with many pockets designed to hold leaflets, booklets and tapes in various languages for easy circulation.
48. Magazine Subscriptions. Give a subscription to an Islaamic magazine to someone as a gift or donate the amount of the subscription to a Da'wah office so it can choose someone to send it to.
49. Collect Used Magazines and Books. Start a project to collect used magazines and Islamic books, etc. from homes and institutions in order to ship them or distribute them where they are needed.
50. Leaflets and Flyers. Select Da'wah articles from books or lectures from tapes and reprint them as leaflets and flyers for various occasions like people going on Hajj or on vacation, or for expatriate workers, or for the sick, doctors and nurses, or for prisoners, for women and children, or for weddings, Ramadaan or Eed.
51. Bill Advertisements. Include brief Islaamic announcements and reminders on common utility bills like telephone or water and electricity bills as well as on supermarket bills.
52. Islaamic Slogans. Catchy Islaamic sayings or slogans can be printed on calendars, agendas, car sunscreens, plastic shopping bags and other similar items that are commonly circulated among the masses of people, with the agreement of their manufacturers and by providing those responsible with suitable sayings.
53. Open Letters. Prepare letters for specific categories of people. For example, letters may be directed to the neighbor of a mosque, to the mosque's imaam, to the public speaker, to the doctor, to the teacher, to the student, to a publisher, to a father, to a mother, to a husband, to a wife, to an employer, a trader, a consumer, a security guard, a prisoner or a traveler.
54. Public Competitions. Purchase and give away Islaamic books, tapes, CDs, DVDs, videos, etc. as prizes in general knowledge quiz competitions or programs specially designed for certain categories of knowledge like science or particular categories of people like high school students, etc.
55. General Publications. Arrange for the production of books, tapes and CDs about the stories and confessions of those who were astray and then were guided, as well as publications containing poems, plays and literary pieces and linguistic works, and the biographies of famous people, and modern business related work on topics like administration and communication, international politics and science and medical topics like the functions of the body etc, in order to reach groups that do not normally read purely religious books.
56. Distribution of Da'wah Materials. The various Da'wah offices should organize the weekly delivery of their flyers, books and tapes to houses and schools at certain times.
57. Production Companies. Approach companies and institutions that specialize in co-coordinating and holding major events and programs for big occasions such as marriages, and prepare special da'wah material for distribution at the events.
58. The Da'wah Car. Purchase van type vehicles and write on them suitable phrases of Da'wah and park them in public places in order to distribute a variety of audio and visual Da'wah materials.
59. Large Bill Boards. Make neon signs or bill boards with Da'wah messages and erect them in suitable places in the country to promote the Da'wah and advertise activities and events.
60. Sporting Events. The Da'wah Offices should participate in organizing sports events for adults and youths and include in the program Da'wah related material for distribution among participants and onlookers as well as for winning teams and individuals.
61. The Charity Clinic. Doctors concerned about da'wah should provide free medical checks up from a supportive private clinic for the general masses or for particular groups like those new Muslims and non-Muslims who study in the Da'wah offices.
62. Women's Courses. Write Da'wah articles or slogans on the sidelines of course materials geared towards women's needs and interests like cooking, home economics, child rearing, married life, home financing, managing house maids and housework, preparation for married life, breastfeeding or children's illnesses, safety in the house and first aid.
63. Charity Bazaars. Hold charity bazaars, charity luncheons, etc. to raise donations for any one of the many worthy Islaamic causes. Include in the function Islaamic lectures addressing women's issues as well as other general da'wah issues.
64. Award Functions. Organize public functions in which tokens of appreciation are presented to scholars, callers, Da'wah offices, religious magazines, Islamic tape stores and good websites, etc. to educate the masses about the importance of their da'wah activities and to enlighten them to some relevant Islaamic issues through the speeches made at the events.
65. Da'wah Directory. Prepare a the tourist's da'wah guide which shows the locations of the Da'wah offices and associations, Islaamic libraries and Islamic studios, prominent mosques and Islaamic schools and universities, and locations and timings of ongoing religious circles, as well as the whereabouts of local scholars.
66. Islaamic Exhibitions. Arrange for book exhibitions by the major bookstores, cultural exhibitions by the Culture and Tourism Board or a cultural tent to visit schools and companies and participate in some of major science and technology expositions with the goal of da'wah in mind.
67. Da'wah Website. Establish a comprehensive da'wah website catering to as many da'wah needs as possible which would function as a think tank for Islaamic ideas and would entertain discussions and post rulings on specific questions related to da'wah.
68. Breaking Fast. Introduce or participate in da'wah project related to breaking fast in Ramadan or on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the year. Include brief talks to those present enlightening them about the unique aspects of fasting and its spiritual significance.
69. Hajj and 'Umrah. Offer trips for Hajj and 'Umrah to particular groups, especially new Muslims, for the purpose of da'wah and implement programs designed to increase peoples' awareness before, during and after Hajj.
70. Transportation. Provide your personal vehicle and time as alternative means of transportation for those needing help in getting to the various Da'wah offices for classes, lectures or conferences.
71. Da'wah Warehouse. Set up charitable da'wah warehouses that collect and accept materials for da'wah and make them accessible to schools and mosques and others at nominal prices.
72. Da'wah Offices. Join the local offices of Da'wah, introduce others to them, and visit them regularly in order to participate in their programs and to support and encourage those working in them.
73. Supplications. Make supplications on various occasions as a way of calling others to Allaah, like saying to someone involved in haraam, "May Allah save you from the fire," or to someone doing a praiseworthy act, "I ask Allah to bring us together in Paradise with the Prophet," or for you to pray for a student saying, "I ask Allaah to give you success in the tests of this world and the next."
74. Personal Visits. Visit those who are neglectful of their prayers close to the time of the call to prayer so that he may accompany you to the mosque.
75. Declaration of Islaam. Bring new Muslims to the local Friday mosque and have him openly declare his Islaam after the Friday prayer following a brief story about his way to Islaam. And follow the ceremony by pointing out ways that those present can help others find Islaam. In the case of female converts, she may declare her Islaam at a girl's school or women's association, etc.
76. Public Transportation. Provide public and private transportation companies, cab companies with attractive and appropriate posters, stickers, and tapes, and later give awards to their management for their cooperation with the Da'wah offices.
77. Da'wah Booths. Set up in the major shopping malls, supermarkets and other locations in which large numbers of the public gather da'wah booths, stalls and tables equipped with large screen televisions and distribute pamphlets, booklets, audio tapes, videos, CDs, VCDs, etc.
78. Telephone Da'wah. Record various brief da'wah subjects to be played telephone systems when callers are put on hold. The telephone can also be used to answer Islaamic questions and to provide consultation.
79. Arabic Language Courses. Run programs for learning conversational and grammatical Arabic language either as courses or through books or tapes at the local da'wah center or at people's work place, if it is more convenient.
80. Islaamic Courses. Offer general Islaamic courses at local da'wah offices, mosques, or public lecture halls covering topics from the major Islaamic disciplines as well as intensive courses for those specializing in da'wah.
81. Da'wah Day. Hold an open day of da'wah with a variety of programs or special educational ones which are presented during the whole day catering to men and women, locals as well as expatriates. For the expatriates, the programs could be in one of the major languages of the expatriate community each day. Articles should be written a month in advance announcing da'wah day and flyers and posters should be distributed all mosques and prayer halls, schools, malls, etc. so that it may be the talk of the people for that month.
May Allaah make you and us guides for others and grant us a place among those who
are themselves rightly guided. Ameen.
JAZZKALLAHU L'KHAIR, INSHAALLAH.
Imesambazwa kwa hisani YA DADA Saada Alghafry wa Muscat, 21/3/2010.
At Home: MAJUMBANI KWETU:
1. Household library. Prepare a collection of books, magazines and tapes according to what is suitable for the various age groups (with consideration of what are suitable for all the members of the family).
2. Posters. Make a bulletin board for the home on which announcements for Islaamic lectures and events can be posted in order to remind the family of important events and lectures.
3. Family lessons. Read from a book, listen to a tape or memorize a portion from the Qur'aan and hadeeth together as a group.
4. Family Competitions. Engage family members in Islaamic competitions and maybe the prize is writing the winner's name on the honor roll in the house).
5. Family Magazine. Create a family magazine by having family members participate writing essays or in cutting articles and pictures related to Islaam from the magazines and newspapers which you bring home.
6. Participation in Islaamic Social Work. Have your brother or son accompany you to the prayers, lectures or to visit a sick person or a scholar or the offices of Da'wah.
7. Righteous Acts in Public. Do some righteous acts in front of the family, such as prayer, reading Qur'aan and giving charity, as an example for them to learn from.
At the Mosque: MISIKITINI
8. Participation in the Wall Magazine. In most mosques there are bulletin boards at the back with announcements and Islaamic posters. Contribute articles to the board and purchase beneficial and informative posters for it.
9. Development of the Mosque's Facilities and Programs. Participate in developing the mosque's Da'wah facilities and activities such as its library, Qur'aan memorization classes and its contribution's box.
10. Providing Books and Tapes. Collect good books, booklets, pamphlets and tapes from Islaamic charitable organizations and put them in various locations in the mosque. For example, it is possible to place the literature in the Qur'aan shelves and in particular the Qur'aanic commentaries and their translations in different languages.
11. Advertisement for Mosque's Programs. Announce the topics and timings for new lectures and classes in the mosque and post advertisements for them on the bulletin boards and on the doors of the mosque.
12. Lectures. Invite a good lecturers know to you to give lectures at the mosque or contact organizations like the Awqaaf or other Da'wah organizations to provide lecturers for your local mosque on a regular basis.
13. Translation of Friday Khutbah. Arrange with the Awqaaf for the translation of the Friday sermon into the languages of the majority of those who attend Jumu'ah in your local mosque.
14. Mosque Committee. Participation in the mosque's committee which organizes the mosque's Da'wah programs and its and social activities.
At School: KATIKA VITUO VYA ELIMU AU SHULENI
15. Morning Assembly. Help to prepare da'wah oriented material for the morning assembly and the school's morning broadcast.
16. Bulletin Boards. Prepare attractive posters advertising internal extra curricular activities as well as external Islaamic lectures and classes for the various bulletin boards around the school.
17. Drama Activities. Participate in the drama activity in the school by developing Islaamic plays and themes.
18. Lectures. Arrange for the visits of various speakers and callers to the school. Focus on open forums in which students are able to ask the questions which are most important to them, thereby making Islaam seem more relevant.
19. Competitions. Organize Islaamic and academic educational competitions between the students and schools and distribute Islaamic prizes. Use such occasions as a means to talk about the importance and responsibility of da'wah.
20. Facilitating Student Input. Collect students' suggestions and complaints and present them to the school authorities. Give full support to student opinions on important issues, especially those related to Islaam.
21. Islaamic Library. Help the Islamic studies department to develop a strong and varied section for Islaam in the school's general library. Focus on Islaamic novels and stories of the Companions and others.
22. Exhibitions and Expositions. Participate in book and tape exhibitions or anti-drug epositions, etc. which are officially organized by the school.
23. Islaamic Week. Request that the school dedicate a week annually to Islaamic exhibitions, displays, posters, artifacts, videos, books and tapes.
24. Summer Holidays. Introduce Islaamic content in the summer vacation activities of the school.
At the Work Place: MAHALI PA KAZI
25. Da'wah Posters. Put up Da'wah posters and announcements for Islaamic events on the office's bulletin boards.
26. Your Desk. Keep Da'wah material on your desk at all times, among your books, in a rack as well as on your own bulletin board.
27. Tape Distribution. Distribute tapes of recent lectures relevant to co-workers. Especially those with catchy titles that address materialism.
28. Invitations. Invite interested co-workers to lectures and other Islamic events, as well as to visit Islaamic da'wah offices.
29. Congregational Prayer. Establish congregational prayer in the office or invite co-workers to accompany you to the nearby mosque.
30. Islaamic Socialization. Organize social gatherings and invite Islamic propagators to join you as informal guests.
31. Open Discussions. Encourage Islamic discussions during lunch and tea breaks.
32. Islaamic Projects. Gather other active Muslims in the office to initiate Islamic charitable projects on your job.
33. The Islaamic Example. Do your job to the best of your ability at all times as a good Islamic example to your co-workers.
General Means of Da'wah: NAMNA NYINGINEZO ZA ULINGANIAJI:
34. Da'wah Posters. Create or purchase a variety of beautiful eye-catching posters whose scenes match though-provoking Islaamic texts or suitable Da'wah situations and put them in appropriate locations around the city.
35. Muslim Greeting Cards. Print and distribute congratulatory cards and Eed cards, as well as cards commemorating other occasions of Islaamic significance which contain beneficial da'wah messages and slogans.
36. Da'wah Album. Collect awe-inspiring pictures and powerful Da'wah slogans in da'wah albums which may be kept for visitors and guests or given as a gift.
37. Marriage Invitation Cards. Turn the cover of a useful pamphlet into a marriage invitation card as a means of reaching all who attend. For example, where people are accustomed to a number of un-Islaamic practices during marriage, a well-known booklet on the etiquette of marriage could become the marriage invitation card.
38. Revision or Typing. Request the person you wish to invite to Islaam to revise or type out a da'wah article as a means of indirectly exposing them to the Islaamic information you wish to get across to them.
39. Da'wah Mobile. Send da'wah messages by mobile to the general public or by email to mass mailing lists as reminders for religious occasions or lectures, etc.
40. The Internet. Utilize the Internet for da'wah conversations or participate in any of the many the chat rooms in which Islaam is being maligned on the net.
41. The Media. Participate in spreading the Da'wah by developing and presenting radio and TV programs or writing Islaamic articles in local newspapers. These programs should be widely advertised through the many means of communication mentioned.
42. Stickers. Arrange for the posting of stickers containing beneficial Islaamic reminders in appropriate locations like the prayer for traveling and riding vehicles in buses, airplanes. Distribute stickers containing the supplications for various occasions like leaving and entering the home, the toilet, etc., for people to put around the home. Negotiate with hotels and other such institutions to post stickers with beneficial advice like the sticker showing the direction of the Qiblah in hotel rooms, etc, to remind residents of prayer and help them to do so properly.
43. Schedules. Post schedules of the prayer timings and Ramadaan fasting timings, on bulletin boards in suitable locations around the city as prayer reminders and guides for those fasting.
44. Diaries and Agendas. Publish or print diaries, agendas and educational schedules containing Da'wah reminders as well as significant Islaamic dates and occasions.
45. Calling Cards. Print attractive calling cards with Da'wah information and arrange to have shops include them with their products when giving them to their customers.
46. Post Cards. Design post cards with attractive local scenes or landmarks with brief Islaamic messages on the back. For example, a post card with a picture of a date farm could have on the back a Qur'aanic reference to the water cycle.
47. The Da'wah Briefcase. Purchase and distribute Da'wah briefcases manufactured with many pockets designed to hold leaflets, booklets and tapes in various languages for easy circulation.
48. Magazine Subscriptions. Give a subscription to an Islaamic magazine to someone as a gift or donate the amount of the subscription to a Da'wah office so it can choose someone to send it to.
49. Collect Used Magazines and Books. Start a project to collect used magazines and Islamic books, etc. from homes and institutions in order to ship them or distribute them where they are needed.
50. Leaflets and Flyers. Select Da'wah articles from books or lectures from tapes and reprint them as leaflets and flyers for various occasions like people going on Hajj or on vacation, or for expatriate workers, or for the sick, doctors and nurses, or for prisoners, for women and children, or for weddings, Ramadaan or Eed.
51. Bill Advertisements. Include brief Islaamic announcements and reminders on common utility bills like telephone or water and electricity bills as well as on supermarket bills.
52. Islaamic Slogans. Catchy Islaamic sayings or slogans can be printed on calendars, agendas, car sunscreens, plastic shopping bags and other similar items that are commonly circulated among the masses of people, with the agreement of their manufacturers and by providing those responsible with suitable sayings.
53. Open Letters. Prepare letters for specific categories of people. For example, letters may be directed to the neighbor of a mosque, to the mosque's imaam, to the public speaker, to the doctor, to the teacher, to the student, to a publisher, to a father, to a mother, to a husband, to a wife, to an employer, a trader, a consumer, a security guard, a prisoner or a traveler.
54. Public Competitions. Purchase and give away Islaamic books, tapes, CDs, DVDs, videos, etc. as prizes in general knowledge quiz competitions or programs specially designed for certain categories of knowledge like science or particular categories of people like high school students, etc.
55. General Publications. Arrange for the production of books, tapes and CDs about the stories and confessions of those who were astray and then were guided, as well as publications containing poems, plays and literary pieces and linguistic works, and the biographies of famous people, and modern business related work on topics like administration and communication, international politics and science and medical topics like the functions of the body etc, in order to reach groups that do not normally read purely religious books.
56. Distribution of Da'wah Materials. The various Da'wah offices should organize the weekly delivery of their flyers, books and tapes to houses and schools at certain times.
57. Production Companies. Approach companies and institutions that specialize in co-coordinating and holding major events and programs for big occasions such as marriages, and prepare special da'wah material for distribution at the events.
58. The Da'wah Car. Purchase van type vehicles and write on them suitable phrases of Da'wah and park them in public places in order to distribute a variety of audio and visual Da'wah materials.
59. Large Bill Boards. Make neon signs or bill boards with Da'wah messages and erect them in suitable places in the country to promote the Da'wah and advertise activities and events.
60. Sporting Events. The Da'wah Offices should participate in organizing sports events for adults and youths and include in the program Da'wah related material for distribution among participants and onlookers as well as for winning teams and individuals.
61. The Charity Clinic. Doctors concerned about da'wah should provide free medical checks up from a supportive private clinic for the general masses or for particular groups like those new Muslims and non-Muslims who study in the Da'wah offices.
62. Women's Courses. Write Da'wah articles or slogans on the sidelines of course materials geared towards women's needs and interests like cooking, home economics, child rearing, married life, home financing, managing house maids and housework, preparation for married life, breastfeeding or children's illnesses, safety in the house and first aid.
63. Charity Bazaars. Hold charity bazaars, charity luncheons, etc. to raise donations for any one of the many worthy Islaamic causes. Include in the function Islaamic lectures addressing women's issues as well as other general da'wah issues.
64. Award Functions. Organize public functions in which tokens of appreciation are presented to scholars, callers, Da'wah offices, religious magazines, Islamic tape stores and good websites, etc. to educate the masses about the importance of their da'wah activities and to enlighten them to some relevant Islaamic issues through the speeches made at the events.
65. Da'wah Directory. Prepare a the tourist's da'wah guide which shows the locations of the Da'wah offices and associations, Islaamic libraries and Islamic studios, prominent mosques and Islaamic schools and universities, and locations and timings of ongoing religious circles, as well as the whereabouts of local scholars.
66. Islaamic Exhibitions. Arrange for book exhibitions by the major bookstores, cultural exhibitions by the Culture and Tourism Board or a cultural tent to visit schools and companies and participate in some of major science and technology expositions with the goal of da'wah in mind.
67. Da'wah Website. Establish a comprehensive da'wah website catering to as many da'wah needs as possible which would function as a think tank for Islaamic ideas and would entertain discussions and post rulings on specific questions related to da'wah.
68. Breaking Fast. Introduce or participate in da'wah project related to breaking fast in Ramadan or on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the year. Include brief talks to those present enlightening them about the unique aspects of fasting and its spiritual significance.
69. Hajj and 'Umrah. Offer trips for Hajj and 'Umrah to particular groups, especially new Muslims, for the purpose of da'wah and implement programs designed to increase peoples' awareness before, during and after Hajj.
70. Transportation. Provide your personal vehicle and time as alternative means of transportation for those needing help in getting to the various Da'wah offices for classes, lectures or conferences.
71. Da'wah Warehouse. Set up charitable da'wah warehouses that collect and accept materials for da'wah and make them accessible to schools and mosques and others at nominal prices.
72. Da'wah Offices. Join the local offices of Da'wah, introduce others to them, and visit them regularly in order to participate in their programs and to support and encourage those working in them.
73. Supplications. Make supplications on various occasions as a way of calling others to Allaah, like saying to someone involved in haraam, "May Allah save you from the fire," or to someone doing a praiseworthy act, "I ask Allah to bring us together in Paradise with the Prophet," or for you to pray for a student saying, "I ask Allaah to give you success in the tests of this world and the next."
74. Personal Visits. Visit those who are neglectful of their prayers close to the time of the call to prayer so that he may accompany you to the mosque.
75. Declaration of Islaam. Bring new Muslims to the local Friday mosque and have him openly declare his Islaam after the Friday prayer following a brief story about his way to Islaam. And follow the ceremony by pointing out ways that those present can help others find Islaam. In the case of female converts, she may declare her Islaam at a girl's school or women's association, etc.
76. Public Transportation. Provide public and private transportation companies, cab companies with attractive and appropriate posters, stickers, and tapes, and later give awards to their management for their cooperation with the Da'wah offices.
77. Da'wah Booths. Set up in the major shopping malls, supermarkets and other locations in which large numbers of the public gather da'wah booths, stalls and tables equipped with large screen televisions and distribute pamphlets, booklets, audio tapes, videos, CDs, VCDs, etc.
78. Telephone Da'wah. Record various brief da'wah subjects to be played telephone systems when callers are put on hold. The telephone can also be used to answer Islaamic questions and to provide consultation.
79. Arabic Language Courses. Run programs for learning conversational and grammatical Arabic language either as courses or through books or tapes at the local da'wah center or at people's work place, if it is more convenient.
80. Islaamic Courses. Offer general Islaamic courses at local da'wah offices, mosques, or public lecture halls covering topics from the major Islaamic disciplines as well as intensive courses for those specializing in da'wah.
81. Da'wah Day. Hold an open day of da'wah with a variety of programs or special educational ones which are presented during the whole day catering to men and women, locals as well as expatriates. For the expatriates, the programs could be in one of the major languages of the expatriate community each day. Articles should be written a month in advance announcing da'wah day and flyers and posters should be distributed all mosques and prayer halls, schools, malls, etc. so that it may be the talk of the people for that month.
May Allaah make you and us guides for others and grant us a place among those who
are themselves rightly guided. Ameen.
JAZZKALLAHU L'KHAIR, INSHAALLAH.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
TUMSHUKURU MUNGU KWA KILA JAMBO
SOMA MSTARI WA KWANZA KWA MAKINI.
"MUNGU akikupa mtihani wowote ule, basi atakuwezesha kuukabali mtihani huo".
Nyakati za furaha, mtaje MUNGU.
Nyakati za matatizo, muombe MUNGU.
Nyakati za utulivu, muabudu MUNGU.
Nyakati za maumivu,mtegemee MUNGU.
Kila wakati, mshukuru MUNGU.
Peleka ujumbe huu kwa watu wengi wapate kumbukumbuka na KUMSHUKURU MUNGU KWA KILA JAMBO, INSHAALLAH.
"MUNGU akikupa mtihani wowote ule, basi atakuwezesha kuukabali mtihani huo".
Nyakati za furaha, mtaje MUNGU.
Nyakati za matatizo, muombe MUNGU.
Nyakati za utulivu, muabudu MUNGU.
Nyakati za maumivu,mtegemee MUNGU.
Kila wakati, mshukuru MUNGU.
Peleka ujumbe huu kwa watu wengi wapate kumbukumbuka na KUMSHUKURU MUNGU KWA KILA JAMBO, INSHAALLAH.
Friday, March 12, 2010
THE DEMISE OF SISTER IN ISLAM AMINAH ASSILMI
FROM INTERNET SOURCES on 11/3/2010
--- On Thu, 11/3/10, Mohamed Juma wrote:
SUBHANALLAH - THIS IS A VERY TOUCHING STORY!!!!!!
MAY ALLAH REST HER SOUL IN ETERNAL , AMIN.
ALLAHU MAGHFIRLAHA WA-ARHAMAHA WA-ASKANAHA FIRJANNA, AMIN.
aminah_zoom.jpg
Salam,
For those of you who don’t know our dear sister, Aminah Assilmi, who passed away this morning (11/3/2010)in a fatal car accident, she was recently chosen as one of the top 500 most influential current Muslims in the world. She can be credited with getting us the Eid Stamp in the United States. And she has spoken often at mosques and Islamic conferences across North America; she has also been a champion of da’wah efforts, bringing many people into Islam by God’s will. May Allah have mercy upon her soul and make her grave a meadow of Paradise.
Her detailed life story is below
Renowned female Scholar: Aminah Assilmi
http://www.famousmuslims.com/Aminah%20Assilmi_files/image001.gif
Aminah Assilmi is a renowned female scholar of Islam she travels around the United States to give lectures , her personal story has admired hundreds of individuals ,she is also President of International Union of Muslim Women , the organization that has many achievements under its belt.
"I am so very glad that I am a Muslim. Islam is my life. Islam is the beat of my heart. Islam is the blood that courses through my veins. Islam is my strength. Islam is my life so wonderful and beautiful. Without Islam I am nothing, and should Allah ever turn His magnificent face from me, I could not survive." Aminah Assilmi
It all started with a computer glitch.
She was a Southern Baptist girl, a radical feminist, and a broadcast journalist. She was a girl with an unusual caliber, who excelled in school, received scholarships, ran her own business, and were competing with professionals and getting awards – all these while she was going to college. Then one day a computer error happened that made her take up a mission as a devout Christian. Eventually, however, it resulted into something opposite and changed her life completely around.
It was 1975 when for the first time computer was used to pre-register for a class in her college. She was working on her degree on Recreation. She pre-registered for a class and then went to Oklahoma City to take care of a business. Her return was delayed and she came back to college two weeks into the class. Making up the missed work was no problem for her, but she was surprised to find that the computer mistakenly registered her for a Theatre class, a class where students would be required to perform in front of others. She was a very reticent girl and she was horrified to think about performing in front of others. She could not drop the class for it was too late
Failing the class was also not a choice, for she was receiving a scholarship that was paying for her tuition and receiving an ‘F’ would have jeopardized it.
Advised by her husband, she went to her teacher to work out some other alternative to performing, such as preparing costumes, etc. Assured by the teacher that he would try to help her, she went to the next class and was shocked by what she saw. The class was full of Arabs and “camel jockeys”. That was enough for her. She came back home and decided not to go back to the class anymore. It was not possible for her to be in the middle of Arabs. “There was no way I was going to sit in a room full of dirty heathens!”
Her husband was calm as usual. He pointed out to her that God has a reason for everything and that she should think about more before quitting. Besides, there was the scholarship that was paying her tuition. She went behind locked doors for 2 days to think about. When she came out, she decided to continue the class. She felt that God gave her a task to convert the Arabs into Christianity.
Thus she found herself with a mission to accomplish. Throughout the class, she would be discussing Christianity with her Arab classmates. “I proceeded to explain to them how they would burn in the fires of hell for all eternity, if they did not accept Jesus as their personal savior. They were very polite, but did not convert. Then, I explained how Jesus loved them and had died on the cross to save them from their sins. All they had to do was accept him into their hearts.” They still did not convert, and so she decided to do something else: “I decided to read their own book to show to them that Islam was a false religion and Mohammed was a false Prophet”.
At her request, one student gave her a copy of the Qur’an and another book on Islam. With these two books she started on her research, which she was to continue for the next one and half years. She read the Qur’an fully and another fifteen books on Islam. Then she came back to the Qur’an and re-read it. During her research, she started taking notes that she found objectionable and which she would be able to use to prove that Islam was a false religion.
Unconsciously, however, she was changing from within which did not escape the attention of her husband. “I was changing, just in little ways but enough to bother him. We used to go to the bar every Friday and Saturday, or to a party, and I no longer wanted to go. I was quieter and more distant.” She stopped drinking and eating pork. Her husband suspected her of having an affair with another man, for “it was only for a man that a woman changes”. Ultimately, she was asked to leave, and she soon found herself living in a separate apartment
"When I first started to study Islam, I did not expect to find anything that I needed or wanted in my personal life. Little did I know that Islam would change my life. No human could have ever convinced me that I would finally be at peace and overflowing with love and joy because of Islam."
Throughout these times, she continued studying Islam and although she was changing subtly from within, she remained a devout Christian. Then one day, there was a knock on her door. It was a man in traditional Muslim robe, who appeared to her as a “man in a long white night gown with a red and white checkered table cloth on his head”. His name was Abdul-Aziz Al-Sheik and he was accompanied by three other men in similar dress. She was very offended by Muslim men coming to her in nightgowns and pajamas. She was further shocked when Abdul-Aziz told her that he understood that she waited to be a Muslim. She replied that she was a Christian and she did not have any plan to become a Muslim. However, she had some questions to ask if they had the time.
At her invitation, they came inside. She now brought up the questions and objections that she noted down while she was researching. “I will never forget his name”, she said of Abdul-Aziz who proved to be a very patient and soft-mannered person. “He was very patient and discussed every question with me. He never made me feel silly or that a question was stupid.” Abdul-Aziz listened to every question and objection and explained it within the proper context. “He explained that Allah had told us to seek knowledge and questions were one of the ways to accomplish that. When he explained something, it was like watching a rose open – petal by petal, until it reached its full glory. When I told him that I did not agree with something and why, he always said I was correct up to a point. Then he would show me how to look deeper and from different directions to reach a fuller understanding.”
It would not be long before she would externally submit to what she had already been submitting to internally during the last one and half years. Later in that same day, this Southern Baptist girl would declare in front of Abdul-Aziz and his companions: “I bear witness that there is no god but God and Mohammed is His Messenger.” It was May 21, 1977.
Conversion to Islam, or to any other religion for that matter, is not always a simple thing to do. Except for a few fortunate ones, a new Muslim usually face consequences. The convert may face isolation from family and friends, if not pressure to go back to the family faith. Sometimes, a convert may even face sever economic hardship, as in the case of those who are asked to leave the house because of converting to Islam. Some converts are fortunate to continue to be well respected by family and friends, but most of them face minor to severe hardship especially during the first few years after the conversion.
But the difficulty that Aminah Assilimi had to go through and the sacrifice that she had to make for the sake of her conviction and faith is almost unheard of. There are few who could rely so much on Allah as she did, standing firm and meeting the challenges, making sacrifices, and yet maintaining a positive posture and influencing people around with the beauty of what she found and believed in.
She lost most of her friends, for she was “no fun anymore”. Her mother did not accept her becoming a Muslim and hoped that it was a temporary zeal and that she would soon grow out of it. Her “mental health expert” sister thought that she lost her mind. She attempted to put her in a mental health institution.
Her father was a calm and wise man. People would come to him for advice and he could comfort anyone in distress. But when he heard that his daughter became a Muslim, he loaded his double-barrel shotgun and started on his way to kill her. “It is better that she be dead rather than suffering in the deepest of Hell”, he said.
She was now without friends and without family.
She soon started wearing hijab. The day she put it on, she was denied her job. She was now without family, friends, and job. But her greatest sacrifice was yet to come.
She and her husband both loved each other very much. But while she was studying Islam, her husband misunderstood her for her apparent changes. She became quieter and stopped going to the bar. Her changes were visible to him and he suspected her of having affair with another man, for whom she must have been changing. She could not explain to him what was happening. “There was no way to make him understand what was changing me because I did not know.” Eventually he asked her to leave and she started living separately.
After she openly accepted Islam, it went worse. A divorce was now inevitable. This was a time when Islam was little known, much less understood for what it is. She had two little children whom she loved dearly and whose custody should have rightfully be given to her. But in a grave violation of justice, she was denied their custody just because she became a Muslim. Before giving the formal verdict, the judge offered her a harsh choice: either renounce Islam and get custody of the children, or keep Islam and leave the children. She was given 20 minutes to make a decision.
She loved her children very dearly. It is perhaps the worst nightmare that a mother can have: asked to willfully leave her child - not for one day, month, or year, but forever. On the other hand, how could she keep the Truth away from her children and live as a hypocrite? “It was the most painful 20 minutes in my life”, she said in an interview. Those of us who are mothers and fathers, especially of young children, little imagination is needed to feel the pain and torment that she must have passed every second in those 20 minutes. What added further to her pain was that according to doctors, she could never bear another child because of certain complications. “I prayed like I had never done before … I knew that there was no safer place for my children to be than in the hands of Allah. If I denied Him, there would be no way in the future to show my children the wonders of being with Allah.”
She decided to retain Islam. Her two dear children – one little boy and one little girl – were taken away from her and given to her ex-husband.
For a mother, is there a sacrifice greater than this – a sacrifice that is done for no material reason but only for faith and conviction?
“I left the court knowing that life without my babies would be very difficult. My heart bled, even though I knew, inside, I had done the right thing” . She found comfort in the following verse of the Qur'an:
There is no god but He,-the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory). (Quran 2: 255)
Perhaps the air of Colorado was too thin for justice. Or perhaps there was a plan in Allah’s greater scheme of affairs. Aminah Assilimi later fought back and took her case to the media. Although she did not get custody of her children again, a change was made in the Colorado law that one cannot be denied child custody on the basis of his or her religion.
Indeed Allah’s love and mercy engulfed her so much that, as if, she has been granted the touchstone of Islam. Wherever she goes, people are touched by her beautiful words and Islamic manners and become Muslim.
By accepting Islam, she became a changed person, and a much better person. So much so that her family, relatives, and people around her started appreciating her mannerism and the faith that brought about such changes in her. Despite her family’s initial reaction, she remained in touch with them and addressed them with respect and humility, just as the Qur’an enjoins the Muslims to do. She would send cards to her parents on different occasions, but she would always write down a verse from the Qur’an or the Hadith without mentioning the source of such beautiful words of wisdom. It was not long before she started making a positive influence among her family members.
The first to become Muslim was her grand mother. She was over 100 years old. Soon after accepting Islam, she died. “The day she pronounced Shahada, all her misdeeds had been erased, while her good deeds were preserved. She died so soon after accepting Islam that I knew her “book” was bound to be heavy on the good side. It fills me with such a joy!”
Next to become Muslim was her father, the one who wanted to kill her after she became Muslim. Thus he brought alive the story of Umar ibn Khattab. Umar was a companion of the Prophet who persecuted the early Muslims before he converted to Islam. When he heard one day that his sister became a Muslim, he went out with an open sword to kill her. But upon hearing some of the verses from the Qur’an that his sister was reciting, he recognized the truth and went straight to the Prophet and accepted Islam.
Two years after she (Assilmi) accepted Islam, her mother called and said that she appreciated her faith and hoped that she would keep it. Couple of years later, she called again and asked her about what one would need to do to become a Muslim. Assilmi replied that one had to believe that there is only One God and Muhammad was his Messenger. “Any fool knows that. But what do you have to do?”, she asked again. She replied that if that is what she believed, then she was already a Muslim! At this, her mother said, “Well … OK. But let’s not tell your father just yet”.
She was not aware that her husband (Assilmi’s step father) had the same conversation with her a few weeks earlier. Thus the two lived together as Muslims for years in secret without knowing that the other was also a Muslim. Her sister who wanted to put her in mental institution accepted Islam as well. She must have realized that becoming Muslim is indeed the most healthy and sound thing to do.
Her son, upon becoming adult, accepted Islam. When he turned 21, he called her and said that he wanted to become a Muslim.
Sixteen years after the divorce, her ex-husband also accepted Islam. He said that he had been watching her for sixteen years and wanted his daughter to have the same religion that she had. He came to her and apologized for what he had done. He was a very nice gentlemen and Assilimi had forgiven him long ago.
Perhaps the greatest reward for her was yet to come. Assilmi later married another person, and despite the doctors’ verdict that she could never conceive another child, Allah blessed her with a beautiful boy. If Allah (swt) makes a gift to someone, who can prevent Him? It was truly a wonderful blessing from Allah (swt), and so she named him “Barakah
The sacrifice that Assilmi made for the sake of Allah (swt) was tremendous. And so Allah (swt) turned in mercy to her and rewarded her with enormous blessings. Her family discarded her after she accepted Islam, and now by Allah’s mercy, most of them are Muslim. She lost her friends because of Islam, and now she is being loved by so many. “Friends who loved came out of nowhere”, she said. Allah’s blessings came upon her so much that wherever she goes people are touched by the beauty of Islam and accept the Truth. Both Muslims and non-Muslims now come to her for advice and counseling.
She lost her job because of wearing hijab, and now she is the President of the International Union of Muslim Women. She delivers lectures nationwide and is on high demand. It was her organization that successfully lobbied for the “Eid Stamp” and had it approved by the United States Postal Service, but it took many years of work. She is now working on making the Eid Day as a national holiday.
She has tremendous trust on Allah’s love and mercy and she never looses faith on Him. She was once diagnosed with cancer some years ago. Doctors said that it was in an advanced stage and that she would live for another year. But her faith in Allah (swt) remained strong. “We must all die. I was confident that the pain I was experiencing contained blessings.” As a brilliant example of how much one can love Allah, she mentions about a friend of her named Kareem Al-Misawi who died of cancer when he was in his 20’s:
"Shortly before he died, he told me that Allah was truly Merciful. This man was in unbelievable anguish and was radiating with Allah’s love. He said: “Allah intends that I should enter heaven with a clean book.” His death experience gave me something to think about. He taught me of Allah’s love and mercy."
All praise is due to Allah, she continues to live in good health. She now thinks that having cancer was the greatest blessing that she ever had.
INA LILAHI WAINA ILEIHI RAJIUN ALLAH YERHAMHA WAYASKINHA FIL JANNATUL FIRDAUS AMIN
--- On Thu, 11/3/10, Mohamed Juma
SUBHANALLAH - THIS IS A VERY TOUCHING STORY!!!!!!
MAY ALLAH REST HER SOUL IN ETERNAL , AMIN.
ALLAHU MAGHFIRLAHA WA-ARHAMAHA WA-ASKANAHA FIRJANNA, AMIN.
aminah_zoom.jpg
Salam,
For those of you who don’t know our dear sister, Aminah Assilmi, who passed away this morning (11/3/2010)in a fatal car accident, she was recently chosen as one of the top 500 most influential current Muslims in the world. She can be credited with getting us the Eid Stamp in the United States. And she has spoken often at mosques and Islamic conferences across North America; she has also been a champion of da’wah efforts, bringing many people into Islam by God’s will. May Allah have mercy upon her soul and make her grave a meadow of Paradise.
Her detailed life story is below
Renowned female Scholar: Aminah Assilmi
http://www.famousmuslims.com/Aminah%20Assilmi_files/image001.gif
Aminah Assilmi is a renowned female scholar of Islam she travels around the United States to give lectures , her personal story has admired hundreds of individuals ,she is also President of International Union of Muslim Women , the organization that has many achievements under its belt.
"I am so very glad that I am a Muslim. Islam is my life. Islam is the beat of my heart. Islam is the blood that courses through my veins. Islam is my strength. Islam is my life so wonderful and beautiful. Without Islam I am nothing, and should Allah ever turn His magnificent face from me, I could not survive." Aminah Assilmi
It all started with a computer glitch.
She was a Southern Baptist girl, a radical feminist, and a broadcast journalist. She was a girl with an unusual caliber, who excelled in school, received scholarships, ran her own business, and were competing with professionals and getting awards – all these while she was going to college. Then one day a computer error happened that made her take up a mission as a devout Christian. Eventually, however, it resulted into something opposite and changed her life completely around.
It was 1975 when for the first time computer was used to pre-register for a class in her college. She was working on her degree on Recreation. She pre-registered for a class and then went to Oklahoma City to take care of a business. Her return was delayed and she came back to college two weeks into the class. Making up the missed work was no problem for her, but she was surprised to find that the computer mistakenly registered her for a Theatre class, a class where students would be required to perform in front of others. She was a very reticent girl and she was horrified to think about performing in front of others. She could not drop the class for it was too late
Failing the class was also not a choice, for she was receiving a scholarship that was paying for her tuition and receiving an ‘F’ would have jeopardized it.
Advised by her husband, she went to her teacher to work out some other alternative to performing, such as preparing costumes, etc. Assured by the teacher that he would try to help her, she went to the next class and was shocked by what she saw. The class was full of Arabs and “camel jockeys”. That was enough for her. She came back home and decided not to go back to the class anymore. It was not possible for her to be in the middle of Arabs. “There was no way I was going to sit in a room full of dirty heathens!”
Her husband was calm as usual. He pointed out to her that God has a reason for everything and that she should think about more before quitting. Besides, there was the scholarship that was paying her tuition. She went behind locked doors for 2 days to think about. When she came out, she decided to continue the class. She felt that God gave her a task to convert the Arabs into Christianity.
Thus she found herself with a mission to accomplish. Throughout the class, she would be discussing Christianity with her Arab classmates. “I proceeded to explain to them how they would burn in the fires of hell for all eternity, if they did not accept Jesus as their personal savior. They were very polite, but did not convert. Then, I explained how Jesus loved them and had died on the cross to save them from their sins. All they had to do was accept him into their hearts.” They still did not convert, and so she decided to do something else: “I decided to read their own book to show to them that Islam was a false religion and Mohammed was a false Prophet”.
At her request, one student gave her a copy of the Qur’an and another book on Islam. With these two books she started on her research, which she was to continue for the next one and half years. She read the Qur’an fully and another fifteen books on Islam. Then she came back to the Qur’an and re-read it. During her research, she started taking notes that she found objectionable and which she would be able to use to prove that Islam was a false religion.
Unconsciously, however, she was changing from within which did not escape the attention of her husband. “I was changing, just in little ways but enough to bother him. We used to go to the bar every Friday and Saturday, or to a party, and I no longer wanted to go. I was quieter and more distant.” She stopped drinking and eating pork. Her husband suspected her of having an affair with another man, for “it was only for a man that a woman changes”. Ultimately, she was asked to leave, and she soon found herself living in a separate apartment
"When I first started to study Islam, I did not expect to find anything that I needed or wanted in my personal life. Little did I know that Islam would change my life. No human could have ever convinced me that I would finally be at peace and overflowing with love and joy because of Islam."
Throughout these times, she continued studying Islam and although she was changing subtly from within, she remained a devout Christian. Then one day, there was a knock on her door. It was a man in traditional Muslim robe, who appeared to her as a “man in a long white night gown with a red and white checkered table cloth on his head”. His name was Abdul-Aziz Al-Sheik and he was accompanied by three other men in similar dress. She was very offended by Muslim men coming to her in nightgowns and pajamas. She was further shocked when Abdul-Aziz told her that he understood that she waited to be a Muslim. She replied that she was a Christian and she did not have any plan to become a Muslim. However, she had some questions to ask if they had the time.
At her invitation, they came inside. She now brought up the questions and objections that she noted down while she was researching. “I will never forget his name”, she said of Abdul-Aziz who proved to be a very patient and soft-mannered person. “He was very patient and discussed every question with me. He never made me feel silly or that a question was stupid.” Abdul-Aziz listened to every question and objection and explained it within the proper context. “He explained that Allah had told us to seek knowledge and questions were one of the ways to accomplish that. When he explained something, it was like watching a rose open – petal by petal, until it reached its full glory. When I told him that I did not agree with something and why, he always said I was correct up to a point. Then he would show me how to look deeper and from different directions to reach a fuller understanding.”
It would not be long before she would externally submit to what she had already been submitting to internally during the last one and half years. Later in that same day, this Southern Baptist girl would declare in front of Abdul-Aziz and his companions: “I bear witness that there is no god but God and Mohammed is His Messenger.” It was May 21, 1977.
Conversion to Islam, or to any other religion for that matter, is not always a simple thing to do. Except for a few fortunate ones, a new Muslim usually face consequences. The convert may face isolation from family and friends, if not pressure to go back to the family faith. Sometimes, a convert may even face sever economic hardship, as in the case of those who are asked to leave the house because of converting to Islam. Some converts are fortunate to continue to be well respected by family and friends, but most of them face minor to severe hardship especially during the first few years after the conversion.
But the difficulty that Aminah Assilimi had to go through and the sacrifice that she had to make for the sake of her conviction and faith is almost unheard of. There are few who could rely so much on Allah as she did, standing firm and meeting the challenges, making sacrifices, and yet maintaining a positive posture and influencing people around with the beauty of what she found and believed in.
She lost most of her friends, for she was “no fun anymore”. Her mother did not accept her becoming a Muslim and hoped that it was a temporary zeal and that she would soon grow out of it. Her “mental health expert” sister thought that she lost her mind. She attempted to put her in a mental health institution.
Her father was a calm and wise man. People would come to him for advice and he could comfort anyone in distress. But when he heard that his daughter became a Muslim, he loaded his double-barrel shotgun and started on his way to kill her. “It is better that she be dead rather than suffering in the deepest of Hell”, he said.
She was now without friends and without family.
She soon started wearing hijab. The day she put it on, she was denied her job. She was now without family, friends, and job. But her greatest sacrifice was yet to come.
She and her husband both loved each other very much. But while she was studying Islam, her husband misunderstood her for her apparent changes. She became quieter and stopped going to the bar. Her changes were visible to him and he suspected her of having affair with another man, for whom she must have been changing. She could not explain to him what was happening. “There was no way to make him understand what was changing me because I did not know.” Eventually he asked her to leave and she started living separately.
After she openly accepted Islam, it went worse. A divorce was now inevitable. This was a time when Islam was little known, much less understood for what it is. She had two little children whom she loved dearly and whose custody should have rightfully be given to her. But in a grave violation of justice, she was denied their custody just because she became a Muslim. Before giving the formal verdict, the judge offered her a harsh choice: either renounce Islam and get custody of the children, or keep Islam and leave the children. She was given 20 minutes to make a decision.
She loved her children very dearly. It is perhaps the worst nightmare that a mother can have: asked to willfully leave her child - not for one day, month, or year, but forever. On the other hand, how could she keep the Truth away from her children and live as a hypocrite? “It was the most painful 20 minutes in my life”, she said in an interview. Those of us who are mothers and fathers, especially of young children, little imagination is needed to feel the pain and torment that she must have passed every second in those 20 minutes. What added further to her pain was that according to doctors, she could never bear another child because of certain complications. “I prayed like I had never done before … I knew that there was no safer place for my children to be than in the hands of Allah. If I denied Him, there would be no way in the future to show my children the wonders of being with Allah.”
She decided to retain Islam. Her two dear children – one little boy and one little girl – were taken away from her and given to her ex-husband.
For a mother, is there a sacrifice greater than this – a sacrifice that is done for no material reason but only for faith and conviction?
“I left the court knowing that life without my babies would be very difficult. My heart bled, even though I knew, inside, I had done the right thing” . She found comfort in the following verse of the Qur'an:
There is no god but He,-the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory). (Quran 2: 255)
Perhaps the air of Colorado was too thin for justice. Or perhaps there was a plan in Allah’s greater scheme of affairs. Aminah Assilimi later fought back and took her case to the media. Although she did not get custody of her children again, a change was made in the Colorado law that one cannot be denied child custody on the basis of his or her religion.
Indeed Allah’s love and mercy engulfed her so much that, as if, she has been granted the touchstone of Islam. Wherever she goes, people are touched by her beautiful words and Islamic manners and become Muslim.
By accepting Islam, she became a changed person, and a much better person. So much so that her family, relatives, and people around her started appreciating her mannerism and the faith that brought about such changes in her. Despite her family’s initial reaction, she remained in touch with them and addressed them with respect and humility, just as the Qur’an enjoins the Muslims to do. She would send cards to her parents on different occasions, but she would always write down a verse from the Qur’an or the Hadith without mentioning the source of such beautiful words of wisdom. It was not long before she started making a positive influence among her family members.
The first to become Muslim was her grand mother. She was over 100 years old. Soon after accepting Islam, she died. “The day she pronounced Shahada, all her misdeeds had been erased, while her good deeds were preserved. She died so soon after accepting Islam that I knew her “book” was bound to be heavy on the good side. It fills me with such a joy!”
Next to become Muslim was her father, the one who wanted to kill her after she became Muslim. Thus he brought alive the story of Umar ibn Khattab. Umar was a companion of the Prophet who persecuted the early Muslims before he converted to Islam. When he heard one day that his sister became a Muslim, he went out with an open sword to kill her. But upon hearing some of the verses from the Qur’an that his sister was reciting, he recognized the truth and went straight to the Prophet and accepted Islam.
Two years after she (Assilmi) accepted Islam, her mother called and said that she appreciated her faith and hoped that she would keep it. Couple of years later, she called again and asked her about what one would need to do to become a Muslim. Assilmi replied that one had to believe that there is only One God and Muhammad was his Messenger. “Any fool knows that. But what do you have to do?”, she asked again. She replied that if that is what she believed, then she was already a Muslim! At this, her mother said, “Well … OK. But let’s not tell your father just yet”.
She was not aware that her husband (Assilmi’s step father) had the same conversation with her a few weeks earlier. Thus the two lived together as Muslims for years in secret without knowing that the other was also a Muslim. Her sister who wanted to put her in mental institution accepted Islam as well. She must have realized that becoming Muslim is indeed the most healthy and sound thing to do.
Her son, upon becoming adult, accepted Islam. When he turned 21, he called her and said that he wanted to become a Muslim.
Sixteen years after the divorce, her ex-husband also accepted Islam. He said that he had been watching her for sixteen years and wanted his daughter to have the same religion that she had. He came to her and apologized for what he had done. He was a very nice gentlemen and Assilimi had forgiven him long ago.
Perhaps the greatest reward for her was yet to come. Assilmi later married another person, and despite the doctors’ verdict that she could never conceive another child, Allah blessed her with a beautiful boy. If Allah (swt) makes a gift to someone, who can prevent Him? It was truly a wonderful blessing from Allah (swt), and so she named him “Barakah
The sacrifice that Assilmi made for the sake of Allah (swt) was tremendous. And so Allah (swt) turned in mercy to her and rewarded her with enormous blessings. Her family discarded her after she accepted Islam, and now by Allah’s mercy, most of them are Muslim. She lost her friends because of Islam, and now she is being loved by so many. “Friends who loved came out of nowhere”, she said. Allah’s blessings came upon her so much that wherever she goes people are touched by the beauty of Islam and accept the Truth. Both Muslims and non-Muslims now come to her for advice and counseling.
She lost her job because of wearing hijab, and now she is the President of the International Union of Muslim Women. She delivers lectures nationwide and is on high demand. It was her organization that successfully lobbied for the “Eid Stamp” and had it approved by the United States Postal Service, but it took many years of work. She is now working on making the Eid Day as a national holiday.
She has tremendous trust on Allah’s love and mercy and she never looses faith on Him. She was once diagnosed with cancer some years ago. Doctors said that it was in an advanced stage and that she would live for another year. But her faith in Allah (swt) remained strong. “We must all die. I was confident that the pain I was experiencing contained blessings.” As a brilliant example of how much one can love Allah, she mentions about a friend of her named Kareem Al-Misawi who died of cancer when he was in his 20’s:
"Shortly before he died, he told me that Allah was truly Merciful. This man was in unbelievable anguish and was radiating with Allah’s love. He said: “Allah intends that I should enter heaven with a clean book.” His death experience gave me something to think about. He taught me of Allah’s love and mercy."
All praise is due to Allah, she continues to live in good health. She now thinks that having cancer was the greatest blessing that she ever had.
INA LILAHI WAINA ILEIHI RAJIUN ALLAH YERHAMHA WAYASKINHA FIL JANNATUL FIRDAUS AMIN
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
MUSLIM DISUNITY: A RELIGION DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF
Muslim Disunity: A Religion Divided Against Itself
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - March 11, 2010.
[Paul Craig Roberts was an editor of the Wall Street Journal and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. His latest book, HOW THE ECONOMY WAS LOST, has just been published by CounterPunch/ AK Press.]
Muslims are numerous but powerless. Divisions among Muslims, especially between Sunni and Shiites, have consigned the Muslim Middle East to almost a century of Western control. Muslims cannot even play together. The Islamic Solidarity Games, a regional version of the Olympics, which were to be held in April in Iran, have been cancelled, because the Iranians and the Arabs cannot agree on whether to call the body of water that separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf.
Muslim disunity has made it possible for Israel to dispossess the Palestinians, for the U.S. to invade Iraq, and for the U.S. to rule much of the region through puppets. For example, in exchange for faithful service, Egypt receives $1.5 billion a year from Washington, which enables President Mubarak to buy off opposition. The opposition had rather have the money than support the Palestinians. Therefore, Egypt cooperates with Israel and the U.S. in the blockade of Gaza.
Another factor is the willingness of some Muslims to betray their own kind for U.S. dollars. Dont take my word for it. Listen to neoconservative Kenneth Timmerman, head of the Foundation for Democracy, which describes itself as a private, non-profit organization established in 1995 with grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to promote democracy and internationally- recognized standards of human rights in Iran.
By now we all know what that means. It means that the U.S. finances a velvet or some color revolution in order to install a U.S. puppet. Just prior to the sudden appearance of a green revolution in Tehran primed to protest an election, Timmerman wrote that the National Endowment for Democracy has spent millions of dollars during the past decade promoting color revolutions in places such as Ukraine and Serbia, training political workers in modern communications and organizational techniques. Some of that money appears to have made it into the hands of pro-Mousavi groups, who have ties to non-governmental organizations outside Iran that the National Endowment for Democracy funds. So, according to the neocon Timmerman, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, it was U.S. money that funded Mousavis claims that Armadinejad stole the last Iranian election.
During President George W. Bushs regime it became public knowledge that American money is used to purchase Iranians to work against their own country. The Washington Post, a newspaper sympathetic to the neocons goal of American hegemony and war with Iran, reported in 2007 that Bush authorized spending more than $400 million for activities that included supporting rebel groups opposed to the countrys ruling clerics.
This makes the U.S. government a state sponsor of terrorism. For confirmation, one of the U.S. paid operatives, who conducted terror operations in Iran, has ratted on his terrorist supporters in Washington. Abdulmalek Rigi, leader of the Baloch separatist group responsible for several attacks, was recently arrested by the Iranians. Rigi admitted that the Americans in Washington assured him of unlimited military aid and funding for waging an insurgency against the Islamic Republic of Iran. (Read his confession here.)
Possibly he was tortured into confession. It is the American way. If the light of the world, the indispensable people, and the shining city on the hill tortures people, perhaps the Iranians do as well. Rigis younger brother, himself on death row in Iran, has said that the U.S. provided direct funding to the separatist group and even ordered specific terrorist attacks inside Iran
The U.S. and its NATO puppets have been killing Afghan women, children, and village elders since October 7, 2001, when the U.S. military invasion Operation Enduring Freedom, a proper Orwellian title for a self-serving war of aggression, was launched. The U.S. installed puppet president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is bought and paid for with U.S. dollars.
The money that Washington gives Karzai finances the corruption that supports him. Karzais corruption and his treason against the Afghan people encourage the Taliban to keep fighting in order to achieve a government that serves Afghans instead of Washington, D.C.
Without the puppet Karzai selling out Afghans to Washington, the U.S. would have already been driven out of the country. With Karzai paying Afghans with American money to fight Afghans for the Americans, the war drones on into its ninth year.
Feminists, liberals, and naive American flag-wavers will say that what is written here is utter rot, that Americans are in Afghanistan to bring womens rights and birth control to Afghan women and to bring freedom, democracy and progress to Afghanistan, even if it means leveling every village, town, and house in the country. We, the indispensable people, are only there to do good, because we care so much for the Afghan people who live in a country that most Americans cant find on a map.
While this collection of naifs rants on about America saving Afghans from whatever, the White House and the Congress are conspiring against the American people to cut $500 billion dollars out of Medicare in order to give the money to private insurance companies. Jobless benefits are about to run out for millions of Americans, whose jobs have been moved offshore in order to make the rich richer. The U.S. Senate failed on Friday, Feb. 26, to extend jobless benefits. A single Republican Senator, Jim Bunning of Kentucky, was able to block the bill because it would cost a measly $10 billion and would add to the budget deficit.
The fiscally responsible Bunning supports blank checks for wars of aggression (war crimes under the Nuremberg standard) and payoffs to investment banks for wrecking the retirement plans of most Americans. Bunning sends the bills to the unorganized and unrepresented Americans, whose jobs have been stolen by corporate offshoring of jobs and whose retirements have been stolen by the endless greed of the Wall Street investment banks.
What fool believes that the U.S. government, which is totally indifferent to the fate of its own citizens, cares so much about Afghanistan that it will spend blood and treasure to bring progress and womens rights to a country half a world away, while it drives its own citizens into the ground?
At Washingtons behest, the government of Pakistan is conducting war against its own people, killing many and forcing others to flee their homes and lands. The Pakistani governments war against its own citizens has caused military expenses to soar, putting Pakistans budget deep in the red. Deputy US Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin ordered the Pakistani government to raise taxes to pay for the war against its own people.
The puppet ruler, Asif Ali Zardari, complied with his American masters orders. Zardari declared a broad-based value added tax on virtually all goods and most services in Pakistan. Thus, Pakistanis are forced to finance a war against themselves.
The cakewalk war in Iraq has lasted 7 years instead of the promised 6 weeks, and the violence is still ongoing with Iraqis killed and maimed nearly every day. The reason Americans are still in Iraq is because the Iraqis hate each other more than they hate the American invader. The vast majority of the violence in the Iraq war was committed between Iraqi Sunnis and Iraqi Shiites as they cleansed one another from neighborhoods.
The majority Shiites regarded the American invasion of Iraq as an opportunity to gain power over the minority Sunnis, who ruled under Saddam Hussein. Therefore, the Shiites never engaged the American invading forces. The minority Sunnis (20 percent of the population) gave most of their effort to fighting the Shiite majority, but in their spare time a few thousand Sunnis were able to inflict serious losses on the American superpower.
Finally realizing the power of lucre in the Arab world, the Americans put 80,000 Sunnis on the U.S. military payroll and paid them to stop killing Americans.
This is how the U.S. won the war in Iraq. Iraqis sold out their independence for American dollars.
Considering that a few thousand Sunnis were able to prevent superpower America from successfully occupying Baghdad or much of Iraq, had the Shiites joined with the Sunnis against the invaders, the U.S. would have been defeated and driven out. This outcome was not possible, because the Shiites wanted to settle the score with the Sunnis, who had ruled them under Saddam Hussein.
This is the reason that Iraq today is in ruins, with one million dead, four million displaced or homeless, and the professional class having fled the country. Iraq, under the American puppet Maliki, is an American protectorate.
As long as Muslims hate and fear one another more than they hate their conquerers, they will remain a vanquished people.
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS - March 11, 2010.
[Paul Craig Roberts was an editor of the Wall Street Journal and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. His latest book, HOW THE ECONOMY WAS LOST, has just been published by CounterPunch/ AK Press.]
Muslims are numerous but powerless. Divisions among Muslims, especially between Sunni and Shiites, have consigned the Muslim Middle East to almost a century of Western control. Muslims cannot even play together. The Islamic Solidarity Games, a regional version of the Olympics, which were to be held in April in Iran, have been cancelled, because the Iranians and the Arabs cannot agree on whether to call the body of water that separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Gulf.
Muslim disunity has made it possible for Israel to dispossess the Palestinians, for the U.S. to invade Iraq, and for the U.S. to rule much of the region through puppets. For example, in exchange for faithful service, Egypt receives $1.5 billion a year from Washington, which enables President Mubarak to buy off opposition. The opposition had rather have the money than support the Palestinians. Therefore, Egypt cooperates with Israel and the U.S. in the blockade of Gaza.
Another factor is the willingness of some Muslims to betray their own kind for U.S. dollars. Dont take my word for it. Listen to neoconservative Kenneth Timmerman, head of the Foundation for Democracy, which describes itself as a private, non-profit organization established in 1995 with grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to promote democracy and internationally- recognized standards of human rights in Iran.
By now we all know what that means. It means that the U.S. finances a velvet or some color revolution in order to install a U.S. puppet. Just prior to the sudden appearance of a green revolution in Tehran primed to protest an election, Timmerman wrote that the National Endowment for Democracy has spent millions of dollars during the past decade promoting color revolutions in places such as Ukraine and Serbia, training political workers in modern communications and organizational techniques. Some of that money appears to have made it into the hands of pro-Mousavi groups, who have ties to non-governmental organizations outside Iran that the National Endowment for Democracy funds. So, according to the neocon Timmerman, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, it was U.S. money that funded Mousavis claims that Armadinejad stole the last Iranian election.
During President George W. Bushs regime it became public knowledge that American money is used to purchase Iranians to work against their own country. The Washington Post, a newspaper sympathetic to the neocons goal of American hegemony and war with Iran, reported in 2007 that Bush authorized spending more than $400 million for activities that included supporting rebel groups opposed to the countrys ruling clerics.
This makes the U.S. government a state sponsor of terrorism. For confirmation, one of the U.S. paid operatives, who conducted terror operations in Iran, has ratted on his terrorist supporters in Washington. Abdulmalek Rigi, leader of the Baloch separatist group responsible for several attacks, was recently arrested by the Iranians. Rigi admitted that the Americans in Washington assured him of unlimited military aid and funding for waging an insurgency against the Islamic Republic of Iran. (Read his confession here.)
Possibly he was tortured into confession. It is the American way. If the light of the world, the indispensable people, and the shining city on the hill tortures people, perhaps the Iranians do as well. Rigis younger brother, himself on death row in Iran, has said that the U.S. provided direct funding to the separatist group and even ordered specific terrorist attacks inside Iran
The U.S. and its NATO puppets have been killing Afghan women, children, and village elders since October 7, 2001, when the U.S. military invasion Operation Enduring Freedom, a proper Orwellian title for a self-serving war of aggression, was launched. The U.S. installed puppet president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is bought and paid for with U.S. dollars.
The money that Washington gives Karzai finances the corruption that supports him. Karzais corruption and his treason against the Afghan people encourage the Taliban to keep fighting in order to achieve a government that serves Afghans instead of Washington, D.C.
Without the puppet Karzai selling out Afghans to Washington, the U.S. would have already been driven out of the country. With Karzai paying Afghans with American money to fight Afghans for the Americans, the war drones on into its ninth year.
Feminists, liberals, and naive American flag-wavers will say that what is written here is utter rot, that Americans are in Afghanistan to bring womens rights and birth control to Afghan women and to bring freedom, democracy and progress to Afghanistan, even if it means leveling every village, town, and house in the country. We, the indispensable people, are only there to do good, because we care so much for the Afghan people who live in a country that most Americans cant find on a map.
While this collection of naifs rants on about America saving Afghans from whatever, the White House and the Congress are conspiring against the American people to cut $500 billion dollars out of Medicare in order to give the money to private insurance companies. Jobless benefits are about to run out for millions of Americans, whose jobs have been moved offshore in order to make the rich richer. The U.S. Senate failed on Friday, Feb. 26, to extend jobless benefits. A single Republican Senator, Jim Bunning of Kentucky, was able to block the bill because it would cost a measly $10 billion and would add to the budget deficit.
The fiscally responsible Bunning supports blank checks for wars of aggression (war crimes under the Nuremberg standard) and payoffs to investment banks for wrecking the retirement plans of most Americans. Bunning sends the bills to the unorganized and unrepresented Americans, whose jobs have been stolen by corporate offshoring of jobs and whose retirements have been stolen by the endless greed of the Wall Street investment banks.
What fool believes that the U.S. government, which is totally indifferent to the fate of its own citizens, cares so much about Afghanistan that it will spend blood and treasure to bring progress and womens rights to a country half a world away, while it drives its own citizens into the ground?
At Washingtons behest, the government of Pakistan is conducting war against its own people, killing many and forcing others to flee their homes and lands. The Pakistani governments war against its own citizens has caused military expenses to soar, putting Pakistans budget deep in the red. Deputy US Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin ordered the Pakistani government to raise taxes to pay for the war against its own people.
The puppet ruler, Asif Ali Zardari, complied with his American masters orders. Zardari declared a broad-based value added tax on virtually all goods and most services in Pakistan. Thus, Pakistanis are forced to finance a war against themselves.
The cakewalk war in Iraq has lasted 7 years instead of the promised 6 weeks, and the violence is still ongoing with Iraqis killed and maimed nearly every day. The reason Americans are still in Iraq is because the Iraqis hate each other more than they hate the American invader. The vast majority of the violence in the Iraq war was committed between Iraqi Sunnis and Iraqi Shiites as they cleansed one another from neighborhoods.
The majority Shiites regarded the American invasion of Iraq as an opportunity to gain power over the minority Sunnis, who ruled under Saddam Hussein. Therefore, the Shiites never engaged the American invading forces. The minority Sunnis (20 percent of the population) gave most of their effort to fighting the Shiite majority, but in their spare time a few thousand Sunnis were able to inflict serious losses on the American superpower.
Finally realizing the power of lucre in the Arab world, the Americans put 80,000 Sunnis on the U.S. military payroll and paid them to stop killing Americans.
This is how the U.S. won the war in Iraq. Iraqis sold out their independence for American dollars.
Considering that a few thousand Sunnis were able to prevent superpower America from successfully occupying Baghdad or much of Iraq, had the Shiites joined with the Sunnis against the invaders, the U.S. would have been defeated and driven out. This outcome was not possible, because the Shiites wanted to settle the score with the Sunnis, who had ruled them under Saddam Hussein.
This is the reason that Iraq today is in ruins, with one million dead, four million displaced or homeless, and the professional class having fled the country. Iraq, under the American puppet Maliki, is an American protectorate.
As long as Muslims hate and fear one another more than they hate their conquerers, they will remain a vanquished people.
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