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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Muharram 8,1427/February 7, 2006 #10


[Scroll down to major article on Muslim world's problems with tentative solutions.]


Brief Local News: [From Jamaat al-Muslimeen, POB 10881,Baltimore, MD 21234] [3 items]

THREE Distinguished American Muslims Facing Oppression by State Power.

IMAM WARITH DEEN UMAR was released on bail on Februrary 6, 2006. He was mistreated during his three day stay in prison in New York. His medicine was withheld. He could eat very little because he was offered ham by the "authorities." His home is being used as collateral for the bail. His clothes and shoes were kept by the government and he was released into the cold in prison clothes.
Muslims all over the country and around the world have been informed by New Trend of the Zionists' attempts to terrorize and oppress Imam Umar and his family. No one on the Internet should pretend that he/she doesn't know. It is time to unite and support this Imam, a distinguished citizen of the United States who has a long record of dedicated service and is known for his piety and learning.


Br. AHMED 'ABDEL SATTAR, Egyptian-American, also being held in New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center, was in a fight with an inmate who was put in his cell. He is protesting such "bunkies" being put in his cell who follow non-Muslim ways of undressing and nudity and bathroom habits which are rampant in the prison system. Ahmed was slightly injured but is okay now.

Dr. KIFAH al-JAYYOUSI, Palestinian-American, is still in prison in Miami, Florida, one month after his release on bond was accepted by the court. The bond amount was so big that his family is still falling short. Help is needed. His entire family is in the US. There is no chance that he will try to leave this country. Can you help.?

Worldwide Condemnation of Cartoons: Muslims, though strong in faith, were manipulated by the Zionists.

One aspect of the demonstrations in the Muslim world aimed at protesting the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him, is very positive. The demonstrations show that love of the Prophet, pbuh, is strong in the hearts of the Muslim masses, be they in Turkey or in Pakistan, in Nigeria or in Iran, in Bangladesh or in England.

However, faith, if not combined with political understanding and awareness can misdirect us. TAQWA [awareness and God-consciousness] should not be limited to prayer but also to international matters.

Remember that the sacreligious cartoons were first published in a Danish paper in September 2005. They were ignored even inside Europe. Later last year, early 2006, an amazing new phenomenon emerged in Norway. It was a move to boycott ISRAEL and impose sanctions on it. This attitude was previously unknown in Europe.

To punish Norway, in January 2006, the publication of one of the cartoons in a Norwegian paper was used to place a COUNTER-BOYCOTT on Norway. The innocent Muslim ummah was used for this purpose.

Also, the cartoons helped anti-Islam dictators, kings and autocrats, like those of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, Libya and Kuwait to pose as defenders of Islam. Even Karzai of Kabul came out as champion of Islam. The Egyptian dictator used the "Brotherhood" people in the newly victorious Hamas movement to start demnstrating against such little countries as Denmark and Norway.
[Egyptian intelligence has connections in Hamas.]

The U.S. too came out in defense of Islam! It's dream of taking Islam away from the "terrorists" and extremists and giving it to its own puppet rulers was coming true. Muslims are protesting, not against the USA and UK and their puppets but against Denmark and Norway.

New Trend presents a full report on the anti-Israel movement which started in Norway. It seriously disturbed the U.S. Norway has now been thoroughly punished, and of all people by the Muslims.

REPORT on NORWAY and the BOYCOTT of ISRAEL. USA SERIOUSLY CONCERNED.

by Nadrat Siddique

Some regions of Norway are boycotting Israel. This is an unprecedented action out of Europe. Not surprisingly, it was censored by the controlled media. If that boycott spread across Norway, and set the stage for similar actions by other European nations, it could be very damaging to the zionist entity.

The prospect of a boycott--however limited--of Israeli goods was significant enough to earn the Norwegians an official threat from Condoleeza Rice (see article below, from the Norwegian newspaper "Aftenposten"). Could it have been troubling enough for the zionists--masters of propaganda--to create a furor across Europe, in order that the original boycott be forgotten, and a new boycott--against the would-be boycotters--will be launched?

The publication of the cartoons of the Prophet (PHUH)--by (zionist?) editors in Norway--may be that red herring. Well-meaning but naive Muslims, supported by the Saudi, Pakistani, and other "Islamic dictatorships" are boycotting Norway. They did not boycott the U.S., when the U.S. military threw the Holy Qur'an in the toilet. But, they are boycotting the only European country which is boycotting Israel!

-Nadrat



Aftenposten
February 5, 2006

USA threats after boycott support
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened Norway with "serious political consequences" after Finance Minister and Socialist Left Party leader Kristin Halvorsen admitted to supporting a boycott of Israeli goods.
Related stories:
SV's boycott call embarrasses government - 06.01.2006
The reaction was reportedly given to the Norwegian embassy in Washington DC, and it was made clear that the statements came from the top level of the US State Department, newspaper VG reports.

VG claims that two classified reports promised a "tougher climate" between the USA and Norway if Halvorsen's remarks represented the foreign policy of the new red-green alliance of the Labor, Socialist Left and Center parties.

Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, responded immediately with written explanations to both Israel and the USA, clarifying the government's stance, while Halvorsen distanced her party's policy from that of the government's.


Norway Post
February 6, 2006

Norway threatened by Muslim boycott
An international association of Muslim clergy have threatened to boycott products from Norway and Denmark, after Nordic media have published drawings of the Prophet Muhammed.

The warning was made in a statement issued in Cairo on Saturday:
- The International Union of Muslim Clergy asks the leaders of Norway and Denmark to show a firm stand against the continuing attacks on the Muslim nation and the Prophet.

- If not, the Union will be forced to urge millions of Muslims all over the world to boycott Danish and Norwegian products, said the group, which is headed by the Egyptian Yusef al-Quardawi.

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September last year published a series of drawings made by artists of how they believed the prophet Muhammed had looked.

The drawings were in January also published by the Norwegian monthly Magazinet.

(NRK)

Rolleiv Solholm


BBC News
January 5, 2006

Norway split over Israel boycott

Kristin Halvorsen, 45, has led the Socialist Left party since 1997 Norway's Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen is backing a planned consumer boycott of Israeli goods, contradicting the coalition government's policy. Ms Halvorsen voiced support for a campaign of solidarity with the Palestinians, due to be launched by her Socialist Left party this month.

"It is a long time since I bought any Israeli products," she told Norway's Dagbladet newspaper.

Norway's foreign ministry said such a boycott was not government policy.

Ms Halvorsen insisted she was expressing her party's view and not that of the government. She would not front the campaign, she added.

She gave the interview before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke on Wednesday.

Ms Halvorsen's party is a minority partner in a three-party coalition formed after elections in September, alongside the Labour Party and Centre Party.

Last month, the municipality of Soer-Trondelag in central Norway launched a boycott of Israeli goods and services.

A finance ministry spokesman, Runar Malkenes, told the BBC News website that "there are no moves to push for a boycott of Israeli goods" at government level.

He said such differences of view were part of coalition politics.



Aftenposten
January 14, 2006

Why an Economic Boycott of Israel is Justified
by Norman G. Finkelstein
Aftenposten | 01.14.2006

The recent proposal that Norway boycott Israeli goods has provoked passionate debate. In my view, a rational examination of this issue would pose two questions: 1) Do Israeli human rights violations warrant an economic boycott? and 2) Can such a boycott make a meaningful contribution toward ending these violations? I would argue that both these questions should be answered in the affirmative.

Although the subject of many reports by human rights organizations, Israel's real human rights record in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is generally not well known abroad. This is primarily due to the formidable public relations industry of Israel's defenders as well as the effectiveness of their tactics of intimidation, such as labeling critics of Israeli policy anti- Semitic.

Yet, it is an incontestable fact that Israel has committed a broad range of human rights violations, many rising to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity. These include:

Illegal Killings. Whereas Palestinian suicide attacks targeting Israeli civilians have garnered much media attention, Israel's quantitatively worse record of killing non-combatants is less well known. According to the most recent figures of the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B'Tselem), 3,386 Palestinians have been killed since September 2000, of whom 1,008 were identified as combatants, as opposed to 992 Israelis killed, of whom 309 were combatants. This means that three times more Palestinians than Israelis have been killed and up to three times more Palestinian civilians than Israeli civilians. Israel's defenders maintain that there's a difference between targeting civilians and inadvertently killing them. B'Tselem disputes this: "[W]hen so many civilians have been killed and wounded, the lack of intent makes no difference. Israel remains responsible." Furthermore, Amnesty International reports that "many" Palestinians have not been accidentally killed but "deliberately targeted," while the award-winning New York Times journalist Chris Hedges reports that Israeli soldiers "entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport."

Torture. "From 1967," Amnesty reports, "the Israeli security services have routinely tortured Palestinian political suspects in the Occupied Territories." B'Tselem found that eighty-five percent of Palestinians interrogated by Israeli security services were subjected to "methods constituting torture," while already a decade ago Human Rights Watch estimated that "the number of Palestinians tortured or severely ill-treated" was "in the tens of thousands - a number that becomes especially significant when it is remembered that the universe of adult and adolescent male Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is under three-quarters of one million." In 1987 Israel became "the only country in the world to have effectively legalized torture" (Amnesty). Although the Israeli Supreme Court seemed to ban torture in a 1999 decision, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel reported in 2003 that Israeli security forces continued to apply torture in a "methodical and routine" fashion. A 2001 B'Tselem study documented that Israeli security forces often applied "severe torture" to "Palestinian minors."

House demolitions. "Israel has implemented a policy of mass demolition of Palestinian houses in the Occupied Territories," B'Tselem reports, and since September 2000 "has destroyed some 4,170 Palestinian homes." Until just recently Israel routinely resorted to house demolitions as a form of collective punishment. According to Middle East Watch, apart from Israel, the only other country in the world that used such a draconian punishment was Iraq under Saddam Hussein. In addition, Israel has demolished thousands of "illegal" homes that Palestinians built because of Israel's refusal to provide building permits. The motive behind destroying these homes, according to Amnesty, has been to maximize the area available for Jewish settlers: "Palestinians are targeted for no other reason than they are Palestinians." Finally, Israel has destroyed hundred of homes on security pretexts, yet a Human Rights Watch report on Gaza found that "the pattern of destruction…strongly suggests that Israeli forces demolished homes wholesale, regardless of whether they posed a specific threat." Amnesty likewise found that "Israel's extensive destruction of homes and properties throughout the West Bank and Gaza…is not justified by military necessity," and that "Some of these acts of destruction amount to grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are war crimes."

Apart from the sheer magnitude of its human rights violations, the uniqueness of Israeli policies merits notice. "Israel has created in the Occupied Territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality," B'Tselem has concluded. "This regime is the only one of its kind in the world, and is reminiscent of distasteful regimes from the past, such as the apartheid regime in South Africa." If singling out South Africa for an international economic boycott was defensible, it would seem equally defensible to single out Israel's occupation, which uniquely resembles the apartheid regime.

Although an economic boycott can be justified on moral grounds, the question remains whether diplomacy might be more effectively employed instead. The documentary record in this regard, however, is not encouraging. The basic terms for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict are embodied in U.N. resolution 242 and subsequent U.N. resolutions, which call for a full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and the establishment of a Palestinian state in these areas in exchange for recognition of Israel's right to live in peace and security with its neighbors. Each year the overwhelming majority of member States of the United Nations vote in favor of this two-state settlement, and each year Israel and the United States (and a few South Pacific islands) oppose it. Similarly, in March 2002 all twenty-two member States of the Arab League proposed this two-state settlement as well as "normal relations with Israel." Israel ignored the proposal.

Not only has Israel stubbornly rejected this two-state settlement, but the policies it is currently pursuing will abort any possibility of a viable Palestinian state. While world attention has been riveted by Israel's redeployment from Gaza, Sara Roy of Harvard University observes that the "Gaza Disengagement Plan is, at heart, an instrument for Israel's continued annexation of West Bank land and the physical integration of that land into Israel." In particular Israel has been constructing a wall deep inside the West Bank that will annex the most productive land and water resources as well as East Jerusalem, the center of Palestinian life. It will also effectively sever the West Bank in two. Although Israel initially claimed that it was building the wall to fight terrorism, the consensus among human rights organizations is that it is really a land grab to annex illegal Jewish settlements into Israel. Recently Israel's Justice Minister frankly acknowledged that the wall will serve as "the future border of the state of Israel."

The current policies of the Israeli government will lead either to endless bloodshed or the dismemberment of Palestine. "It remains virtually impossible to conceive of a Palestinian state without its capital in Jerusalem," the respected Crisis Group recently concluded, and accordingly Israeli policies in the West Bank "are at war with any viable two-state solution and will not bolster Israel's security; in fact, they will undermine it, weakening Palestinian pragmatists…and sowing the seeds of growing radicalization."

Recalling the U.N. Charter principle that it is inadmissible to acquire territory by war, the International Court of Justice declared in a landmark 2004 opinion that Israel's settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the wall being built to annex them to Israel were illegal under international law. It called on Israel to cease construction of the wall, dismantle those parts already completed and compensate Palestinians for damages. Crucially, it also stressed the legal responsibilities of the international community:

"all States are under an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem. They are also under an obligation not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by such construction. It is also for all States, while respecting the United Nations Charter and international law, to see to it that any impediment, resulting from the construction of the wall, to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self- determination is brought to an end."

A subsequent U.N. General Assembly resolution supporting the World Court opinion passed overwhelmingly. However, the Israeli government ignored the Court's opinion, continuing construction at a rapid pace, while Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the wall was legal.

Due to the obstructionist tactics of the United States, the United Nations has not been able to effectively confront Israel's illegal practices. Indeed, although it is true that the U.N. keeps Israel to a double standard, it's exactly the reverse of the one Israel's defenders allege: Israel is held not to a higher but lower standard than other member States. A study by Marc Weller of Cambridge University comparing Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory with comparable situations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, East Timor, occupied Kuwait and Iraq, and Rwanda found that Israel has enjoyed "virtual immunity" from enforcement measures such as an arms embargo and economic sanctions typically adopted by the U.N. against member States condemned for identical violations of international law. Due in part to an aggressive campaign accusing Europe of a "new anti-Semitism," the European Union has also failed in its legal obligation to enforce international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Although the claim of a "new anti-Semitism" has no basis in fact (all the evidence points to a lessening of anti-Semitism in Europe), the EU has reacted by appeasing Israel. It has even suppressed publication of one of its own reports, because the authors -- like the Crisis Group and many others -- concluded that due to Israeli policies the "prospects for a two-state solution with east Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine are receding."

The moral burden to avert the impending catastrophe must now be borne by individual states that are prepared to respect their obligations under international law and by individual men and women of conscience. In a courageous initiative American-based Human Rights Watch recently called on the U.S. government to reduce significantly its financial aid to Israel until Israel terminates its illegal policies in the West Bank. An economic boycott would seem to be an equally judicious undertaking. A nonviolent tactic the purpose of which is to achieve a just and lasting settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict cannot legitimately be called anti- Semitic. Indeed, the real enemies of Jews are those who cheapen the memory of Jewish suffering by equating principled opposition to Israel's illegal and immoral policies with anti- Semitism.


www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=11&ar=130


Letter:
Angry Reader Condemns New Trend's Note on AIDS in South Africa:

New Trend, February 4 issue #9 wrote: "European culture plays down the importance of marriage and glorifies fornication and adultery."

what a load of crap, what about all the urfi "marriages" in Egypt and the thousands of Sudanese prostitutes there. How about all the Saudi and Emirates men who go to Asia just for prostitutes and bring home AIDS to their wives in headscarves. Just because it doesn't happen in the open doesn't mean it's not happening. stop blaming everything on the Western world, grow up and take some responsibility for yourself.

Stephanie Keith

What is ailing the Muslim Nation?

by Dr. Omar Bagasra

[Exclusive to New Trend.] [The writer is a Distinguished Professor of Biology.]

There are over 1.5 billion Muslims on the planet earth. No part of earth is devoid of Muslims. Over 56 nations are so-called Muslim nations and there are millions of Muslims in areas where they are a significant minority. Large and strategically essential natural resources are located in Muslim lands. Some of the world's largest manpower and some of the most significant brain powers are Muslims. Yet, there is no Muslim nation that has excelled in modern technology and biomedicine. We still depend almost 100% on the industrial nations for everything! One can see large and beautiful buildings are being constructed in Dubai or Doha, but the architects are Westerners, the material comes from abroad and workers are imported. While the Chinese have taken over the low-tech market of the globe and are racking up billions, Muslims are shoveling over billions in the purchase of cheap Chinese watches, handkerchiefs, scarves and almost every thing one can imagine. There is no consumer item that one can image that the Chinese are not manufacturing at mass scale and the Muslims and the whole world is not buying. This new wave of mass production is destroying all the poor families around the world but has affected Muslims the most since in the poor Muslim nations there are no alternate jobs. It is so shameful that the oil rich Muslim nations are hiring the poor Muslims to perform menial tasks but treat them like slaves with no human rights, health benefits and respect. Overall, for the last several centuries Muslims are essentially a slave people. So, what is ailing us?

This question is in almost every Muslim man and woman's mind. I had been thinking on this problem for a long time and every time when I travel into a Muslim nation it hurts my heart and sickens my soul to see that we have sunken even deeper as time goes on.

The following are some of the reasons that are keeping us from entering into the mainstream of the world's stage.

1) Lack of Discipline and Organization: In my mind this ranks number one. Every Muslim nation I have traveled to so far lacks discipline and organization. It is so surprising that an Ummah whose base ought to be built on supreme discipline and organization displays complete absence of it in their practical lives. The daily five time prayers that start with an exact time like a clockwork, so vividly displayed during Friday and Eid prayers where sometimes millions of Muslims pray together with almost army like movements that can envy any acrobatic team, completely lack this quality in their daily lives. From a single individual to a large organization, Muslim people show no organization. People come to work late, work as little as they can get away with and display no remorse when confronted with it. Even the institutions that require the utmost degree of discipline like the army, national guards, airline workers and emergency health care personnel lack basic discipline.

2) Lack of Restraint: Allah has graced the Muslim people with a month of fasting. No nation on earth displays such a great degree of restraint from eating, drinking fluids or other activities during the fasting period. But in the daily life no nation on earth shows greater lack of restraint. Whenever I travel to a Muslim nation I am always startled by the way the people drive, talk against other people and show no respect for others' lives, opinions and faiths. People openly curse with the rudest possible language to other Muslims who practice slightly different mudhab. Hateful language is not limited against Jews or Christians but this unrestrained abuse is pelted on other Muslims. The Prophet of Islam never prescribed such a thing and even welcomed difference in opinion. Shura or consultation is mandatory by the Allah's command but Muslims appear to have no place for tolerance!

3) Lack of Cleanliness: Cleanliness is Half of Iman (Faith)! This ought to be the most important aspect of a Muslim society but one will rarely see that in the Muslim cities. Filth is everywhere! Even around the Mosques and in front of the hospitals. One will see sewer lines exposed with horrifying smells, gutters open and animal excretion all over the side walks.

4) Lack of Freedom of Speech and Expression of Thoughts: We, as Muslims believe that our faith is the final guidance from God Almighty. God has perfected His religion and we are the nation who has to follow these last sets of guidance. In the Qu'ran Allah commands us to be observers and be thinkers. Allah commands us to observe and see His signs. The most common word for "sign" is aya and its plural ayat appear some 382 times in the Qu'ran. Similar to ayat are terms like bayyina (71 times), ala (34 times), burhan and shaair which appear in the Qu'ran multiple times commanding us to observe and analyze events, universe, day and night and life forms on this earth and orbits of planets and sun. There are some entire suras, such as al Qamar (#54), al Rahman (#55) and al Waqia (#56) that are essentially litanies of the signs of God. We are the one who should lead the world with our observations, thinking and discoveries, but we are now just the followers of others inventions, observations and thinking processes.

5) Education: During colonialism our education system has gone through radical changes. Currently, the Muslim nations appear to have two separate but simultaneous systems of education. In one system (generally known as Madrassa, meaning school) students learn mostly Qur'an and Hadith and Islamic history, with a little bit of math and other material thrown in. The other system is modeled after the British or the American system, designed in a fashion that Muslims are taught to feel inferior to the Western countries and education. This has created so much inferiority complex that now every other school in many of the Muslim nations is claiming it has endorsement from a British or American educational agency. Neither of these systems of educations is adequate for the modern needs of the Muslim nations.

What are the Issues and the Solutions?

It is true that any time we bring the issues of our demise we blame the Western Powers for it. No doubt there is some degree of truth to it. The Westerners have learned a great deal about us. For the last three hundred years they have accumulated an enormous amount of knowledge about every aspect of Muslim people and figured out how to manipulate our minds, behaviors and thinking process. They know more about every region of the Muslim world then the Muslims do themselves. They know how to use our religion and turn it upside down so we can destroy each other. However, our biggest enemies are ourselves! We have become so closed minded, ignorant and hateful towards our own people that it is allowing our enemies to destroy us so easily. So, following are my potential solutions to the problems we are facing currently.

A) Planning and Organization: We need to plan. The Prophet of Islam (pbuh) always planned his efforts and campaigns. If one reads the enormous amount of literature that is in the public domain from the US and the European think tanks one will have hundred of years of plans. In some Muslim countries there may be five or ten year plans but usually very ambiguous ones. Our cities are growing with the speed of light, our little towns are disappearing rapidly and our green areas (like jungles and forests) are turning to developments but without any long term planning. If we have some thing on paper it is not implemented because of bribery and nepotism. People pay off the law enforcers and regulators to bend the rules and the planning goes no where. I was surprised to see that in one of the richest Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia there is no adequate drainage of water in Jeddah. Last year just after Hajj I observed hundreds of cars floating after a heavy rain in Jeddah. Similarly, just a few miles from Mecca there are towns without running water and electricity.

B) Law Enforcement and Respect of Law: I have been living in the US for several decades and I understand that no one wants to really obey the law. One can see looting in the U.S. cities during blackouts. People speed and do not stop at stop signs if that can get away with it. They cheat on their taxes and lie in court under oath. However, Muslims face a real conundrum when it comes to following the law. We are taught from the childhood that the only real laws are Gods' laws ordained in the Qur'an. However, in the majority of the Muslim world the laws of the lands are the legacy of the colonial laws that are unacceptable to Muslims. This problem can be at least partially solved by implementing Shar'ah laws. Of course, Shari'ah laws need to be implemented slowly and adopted when necessary through Ijtihad and consultations with the legal experts. I believe this can eliminate the legal schizophrenia.

C) Unity and Economic Confederation: Tribalism and ethnic identity is embedded into human nature. In the U.S. people proudly identify themselves as being Irish-American, Italian-American, African-American, Jewish-American, etc. This racial or ethnic identity is cherished but rarely becomes the foundation of violence and hate. In the Muslim lands it has clearly became a source of discrimination and bias. Islam teaches us the unity of mankind but we are definitely a divided nation. Now we identify ourselves as being Pakistani, Indian, Iranian, Afghan, etc. first, and Muslim last. Within each nation we use our racial background as a source of division instead of a foundation for oneness. We need to unite as an Ummah first. Then, we need to develop a sense of responsibility for our fellow Muslims. We need to preferably do business with our fellow Muslims at a mass scale, individually, nationally and globally. Currently, only 3% of business is done between the Muslim nations. We import 97% of our goods from the non-Muslim nations. This needs to be reversed as soon as possible. If we do not do this we will become a slave class no matter how much money the oil wealth brings to the Gulf region. In the last generation, Muslims who were just emerging from under colonialism were more into the Ummah concept. Now, with the new generation of Muslims entering the work force, most of them are into nationalism and are mostly seduced by the West. They may claim to bow to Allah but are worshipers of the Western Culture! One can see the proof of my statement by the lack of volunteerism for the Kashmiri Earthquake. So few Muslims donated, then so little and even so few went to help. This is not the way an Ummah behaves. When hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. shores, the Sultanate of Qatar was the first one to donate $100 million to the U.S. Only less than 1,000 people died from Katrina and most of them due to the slow response from the U.S. relief agencies, not directly due to the flood. But in Kashmir over 100,000 Muslims have died and over three millions are suffering in the below zero temperature without shelter. So few Muslim doctors have volunteered in the relief efforts. We do need to show how much we care! We need to care enough to show up at the times of need-that is what Islam is all about!

D) Education Reforms: We need this more than anything else! Our system of education needs to represent the Islamic way of life, not the western values and civilization. Muslims laid the foundations for the modern discoveries and innovations, but we went to sleep for three hundred years. Now, we are confused. Evolution, space age, internet technology, biotechnology and imaging methods have left us flabbergasted. However, all these can be overcome in less than a decade. The new generation of Muslims needs to resolve the ideological issues and has to excel in modern science and technology. We missed the industrial age and technology age. Now, it is time for us to join the Biotechnology race and win it.

E) Democracy, Monarchy and Caliphate: The contemporary Muslim world is faced with a unique challenge- to import the western style democracy or to have monarchies and pseudo kingdoms? For the last two centuries Muslims have lost their hold over the global power and almost the entire Muslim world has been under the yoke of Colonial rulers. During this long night of Colonial domination, Muslims have also suffered intellectually, morally, economically and culturally. The worst part of this ordeal is related to the gradual disintegration of Islamic Institutions, which had sustained the Ummah for some twelve centuries and enabled it to embrace challenges from within and without. It was under Colonial rule that a number of new institutions were imposed upon Muslim lands through transplantation from the West as a part of its so-called "civilizing mission", which in fact represented the worst part of Imperialism. Therefore, judiciary, economy, education, administration, language, literature, arts, architecture, and in short all elements of society and culture are being subjected to forced Westernization. This neo-implementation of forced democracy can be seen in Afghanistan and Iraq. All sorts of pressures are being applied to bring democracy to the Muslim lands. The question is why?

The democratic systems that are being implemented in the Muslim nations have nothing to do with freedom of expression or right to participate into the political and social reconstruction. The reality is that the whole effort in developing the democracies in the Muslims nations is to find an easy way to control and manipulate the people by influencing the selected leadership that is pro-Western. In the past, as soon as people have elected the type of free government they liked these governments had been conveniently removed by the Western-appointed puppet governments. One can see this in Pakistan, Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and multiple other nations. This interference by neo-colonialism is at the root of the current crisis and discontent in the Muslim world. Islamic resurgence and peoples' desire to participate in political decision-making and abrupt denial of their rights by the Western powers is the root of violence that has taken over the believers. Peace is possible only if there is trust, harmony, and cooperation among the people and the ruling junta. But the rulers who inherited power from the colonial masters and the people are not on the same station as far as ideological, moral or political wavelengths are concerned. The rulers want to change society and its institutions in accordance with the concepts and values of Westernization and its ideological icons---secularism, nationalism, capitalism, socialism, Americanisms, etc. They want to introduce laws, institutions and policies derived from Western models. The people regard this as something against their faith, values and aspirations. That is the main reason that despite so called independence, the system of government has per force and per design remained despotic and arbitrary. There is no incompatibility between Islam and a truly democratic system based on people's participation and power-sharing. On the other hand, democratization in the sense of freedom of the people, fundamental rights and people's participation and "Islamization" are natural corollaries. The conflict is between the peoples' Islamic aspirations and the Westernizing ideals and policies of the ruling juntas. Currently, the US is perceived as the major neocolonial power, forcing its will on other nations. The US is viewed as the major hindrance to the wishes of the masses. Therefore, hate burns in the heart of all Muslims who are not raised in the cultured cloning factories of the West. They want and desire to implement Shari'a laws. This is real root of war on terrorism. In reality it is war against Islam. Muslims need to start practicing the Shari'a Laws in their own lands. They do not need the permission of their rulers, governments or from the US think tanks. They already have Allah's permission to do so!

Justice is the Key: A leading Islamic philosopher, Abdulkarim Souroush, says:
"According to the Commander of the Faithful: "Justice is spacious. One who feels confined by justice shall find injustice even more confining." Flight from justice leads only to injustice, where there is even less in the way of liberty, rights, and growth. Just as there is no happy medium between justice and injustice so there is none for reason, logic, and their opposites. Reason has a certain expansiveness, the alternative to which is the narrowness and the darkness of ignorance. And the same is true of freedom: anyone who finds it frustrating will find the alternative even more so." We as Muslims need to start to practice justice in our lives, the rest will fall into its correct place, spontaneously.

So how we can overcome the problems facing the Ummah? We as Muslims can make one change! Implement one bold move! And we can initiate a chain-reaction! My suggestion is to bring back the Khilafate!!

The goal of reuniting Muslims under a single flag stands at the heart of all Muslims. The last Khalifa of Islam was removed by Ataturk in 1924. However, it is time for the Muslims to bring back this tradition, the office that embodied the ultimate religious and political authority and enabled all Muslims to claim a brotherhood, without nationality, ethnicity or religious denomination. This concept of the caliphate is very much alive in the collective memory of the Muslim society. There is absolutely nothing else that can keep Muslim society together at the moment. The question is how we are going to bring Khilafate back to the Muslim minds. The superdominant US and the rest of the European powers will never let this happen peacefully. Besides, if we declare the leader of one Muslim country as Khalifa he will be removed within days by the mysterious powers! Therefore, I have a solution! The majority of the Muslims-both Shiite and Sunni- believe the Al-Mehdi will lead the final war against the imperialism and colonialisms. Why not declare him the Khalifa? Every Muslim who agrees to this should wear a badge, or a cap, shirt or bumpersticker saying "Al-Mehdi-the Khalifa". It will unite us instantaneously and freak out our slave-masters. Since, Al-Mehdi is a concept and a belief; they can not kill him or remove him from power.

Finally, I like to advise all Muslims to incorporate the Islamic ways of like as soon as possible. It does not necessarily mean to start growing beard, but to avoid Riba, pray five times a day, fast, be honest, be helpful to others and read, read and read.

2006-02-08 Wed 02:19:26 cst
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