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2 Shawwal 1439 A.H.- June 17 2018 Issue # 24, Newsletter #1763



Hadith of the Week

Abu Ad Darda,r.a reported:

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
"The father is the middle of the gates of Paradise, so keep this gate or lose it."
 Gate

Source: Sunan Ibn Majah 3663
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Tirmidhi

with Thanks to Sis Kristi


In memory of my step son Kris.




 Outreach

Record Breaking Distribution of Jamaat al-Muslimeen's Message. 500 Recipients. Alhamdulillah.!

On June 15, at Masjid Dar al-Hijra in a town called Falls Church in northern Virginia, there were 3 sessions of the Eid prayer. Large numbers of Muslims come here because it is the crossroads between Washington, DC and and a number of north Virginia towns just outside DC.

Unfortunately the prayer leaders did not give any message to the large audience other than to tell them to register to vote and that too without any supporting evidence from Islam.

The angels must have been there to help the distribution because it is difficult to sit through three empty khutbas and to keep reaching out with Jamaat's message all the way till the Juma prayer came in. May Allah bless the patience in the distribution and the voluntary expenses on the EIGHT page document. There were no signs of rejection from the 500.

Here is an outline of the 8-page document:

  1. &
  2. &
  3. Khutba against non-political non-activist goodness and the evil which pervades America today. Plus the key message of ibn Taymiyyah, r.a., after the destruction of Baghdad [Dr. Kaukab Siddique]

  4. Pakistanis stand resolute against Trump-Israeli move on Jerusalem. Jamaate Islami. [Qaiser Sharif.]

  5. Blasphemy will not be tolerated in Pakistan. [Imam Hussain Khan]

  6. After heavy fighting IS withdraws from Damascus with arms and forces intact. [Syrian Observatory]

  7. The blessings of Ramadan. Point by point from Hadith.

[Sis. Yasmin]

Political Prisoners :

AhmedAbdelSattar.org

FreeZiyadYaghi.info

FreeMasoudKhan.net

Civil Discord Show





 Noteworthy

Major Move in Support of Dr. Aafia by US Muslims

A report on Nadrat Siddique's iftar party [June1] to mobilize support for political prisoner Aafia Siddiqui on Jamaat al-Muslimeen's facebook newsfeed reached 11428 people, mostly in Pakistan and Bangladesh and some in UK and USA.

With 4 activist imams, a famous keynote leader and 2 Islamic women leaders speaking out, Nadrat Siddique harnessed major support for the cause of Dr. Aafia.




War News

 War News

Syria

Heavy Fighting as IS regroups in eastern Syria.
[See TRAGIC REMINDER at the conclusion of this report.]

All this information is available in wire services and Syrian Observatory.

June 17. In a clash between Iranian forces and Islamic State fighters in the desert between Bokamal and Mayadein, both sides suffered casualties. A large part of this area has been captured by Islamic State which also seized large quantities of Iran's weapons and ammunition. However the Iranians are bringing large shia reinforcements to the area.

Also on June 17, IS attacked Iranian and Shia troops in the eastern desert of Homs province near Owayrid Dam area. The Shia forces fled owing to lack of support by the Russian air force. However large Shia reinforcements are on the way.
In the meantime several hundred Islamic State fighters crossed the Euphrates river from the east bank to the west bank to join the fighting. Again the Russian air force was missing owing to weather.

Also, June 13 to 16, in the tip of Hasakeh province, Kurdish SDF forces captured an Islamic State area following bombing raids by American, Italian and French jets on IS which killed 30 Islamic State {IS} fighters.

The US air force has bombed al-Shair's population three times because the people support IS. In the bombing on June 13, ten civilians including 6 women and 3 children were killed. In the June 6 bombing by the US, 11 civilians were killed and in the June 1 bombing, the US killed 12 civilians. The US says it is investigating the June 1 bombing.[Al-Shair is at the tip of southern Hasakeh province near the Iraqi border.]

Assad's artillery is shelling Islamic groups which captured northern Lattakia province months back.

In retaliation mujahideen groups are shelling Alawite forces in western Aleppo. After severe Russian bombing which massacred civilians in Zardaria [Idlib] province, Islamic groups are tightening their grip on the heavily armed Shia towns of Fuah and Kufrania. [On June 17, Russian air force air dropped supplies to the two shia towns.]

On Eid day, Assad's and Iranian long range artillery shelled Muslim populations in the Daraa countryside [south Syria] and al-Lataminah area northern Hama province. In both areas people refuse to accept Assad's regime despite great danger.

Daily Russian bombing raids on Idlib province are continuing. A human disaster of gigantic proportions is possible if and when the regime attacks Idlib province which is packed with refugees.

[Tragic reminder: More than 60,000 Muslims have died in Assad's prisons and torture chambers. Another 140,000 plus prisoners are living in miserable conditions in Assad's prisons. More than 60,000 Muslim women have been raped by the regime forces. More than 10,000 children were tortured to death. This was the Shia regime's "persuasion" to force opponent males to surrender.]




Iraq
Islamic women on trial.
40,000 civilians were killed in Mosul by US coalition and Shias. US spent about $43 billion to destroy ISIS

June 12 to 17. Sporadic fighting continues in Iraq as ISIS refuses to surrender.

Jane Arraf, veteran Iraq reporter, writes from a Shia regime court:
"The Iraqi government has detained around 560 women whose husbands were members of ISIS. Largely coming from Turkey, Russia and eastern Europe, the women—many of whom have children—are being tried as terrorists and face possible life in prison or the death penalty."

The Intercept has published a complete document on the brutal conditions in regime prisons to convict anyone who had any sympathy for IS. [Too lengthy for us to publish]

America spent more than $43 billion to destroy ISIS in Iraq. Americam general justifies the destruction of Mosul by saying: "They were there."

Angelina Jolie visited Mosul on June 16. She said she has never seen such destruction. She says smell of bodies still buried under the rubble is pervasive, but she did not have the courage to say this was done by the US coalition and Baghdad regime.

Here are snippets from the guerrilla war going on:
June 17: A regime air strike killed 6 IS fighters in the Ishaqi district of Saladin province.

2 regime people were killed in an IS IED attack near Khanaqin.

4 IS were killed by regime troops northeast of Baquba.
One regime trooper was killed and one injured in the same fight.

In Mosul 8 persons were arrested by the regime because they were signalling IS members in hiding.

Near Hawija, Kirkuk province, several police were wounded in IS attack. Figures not given.

Northwest of Mosul, a police officer was killed by IS but 7 fighters were captured in a quick regime response.
Etc, etc.




Guidance

With thanks to Sis Yasmin

A new convert reflects on the last 10 days of Ramadan

By Lisa Suhay

As a very new Muslim at the end of my first ever Ramadan I believe Islam should come with a warning label, but not for the reason many non-Muslims might think. WARNING: Ramadan may cause addiction to Islam and community.

The first week of Ramadan was overwhelming. While I had no difficulty fasting due to previous health fasts involving juicing, I was worried that I would forget not to drink. For me, thirst is far more powerful than hunger.

Because my family isn't Muslim and my husband has strongly objected to all things Islam, I found myself gravitating to the masjid (mosque). Breaking the daily fast at Iftar at the masjid was a bigger reward than the new cultural foods I shared there.

No matter how unkind people were to me for my choice to become Muslim, there was always a very large, welcoming family waiting for me.

By week two I had figured out a food strategy for Suhoor and how to take a cat nap and not be completely incapacitated by lack of energy and sleep deprivation. Little did I know that this would pale in comparison to the final 10 days of Ramadan for sleep deprivation.

With standing during Taraweeh prayers from 10 p.m. until midnight came foot cramps, back aches and even more bonding and friendships. By the second hour we would begin to sway side to side, both from the intensity of the Quran recitation by the visiting Egyptian Sheik and to keep muscles from locking up.

Being charged up by the spirit of Allah and the food at Suhoor at 3:30 a.m., I have taken to reading Quran and reciting the 99 Names of Allah aloud, like counting the holiest of sheep.

I will always count as my heroes the women who sacrifice their prayer times in order to do all the cooking, preparation and cleaning during Ramadan.

Because I had no teacher other than what I can research online, via the Step-by-Step Salah and Muslim Pro apps and YouTube I knew absolutely nothing about what to expect the last 10 nights of the holiday or Eid.

It was only by overhearing a sister say, "Well we're in the last 10 nights now" that I began to ask around about what was happening - Tahajjud.

If I thought that standing through hours of a recitation in a language I didn't understand and not knowing what to do at any given moment was difficult, Tahajuud was an entirely new level. Staying overnight in the place of worship for multiple nights was unheard-of to me. I had absolutely nothing to prepare me for this wondrous, beautiful, experience of community and faith.

I expected to be exhausted, sleepy and lonely.

What I became was awakened in every way, filled with a light I have never known and bonded to sisters and brothers who, I pray, will always be a part of my life long after Ramadan has passed.

When a sister first explained that we would stay at the masjid from Iftar (8:28 p.m.) until Fajr (4:16 a.m.) I thought, "Well good luck with that! I'll be home sleeping."

Shortly after thinking that, I felt a powerful need to try it, "just for one night" to get the full Ramadan experience - just to say I'd done it once.

Here is where I completely underestimated the addictive properties of Ramadan and Islam itself. Now I was on holy ground with Allah breathing into me a new life and strength I've never known. Rather than being exhausted at 5 a.m., I was like one of the children who run around like wild puppies in the masjid - full of energy. I have been told that "nobody expected you to do Tahajuud!" I tell them I include myself among these people.

Because the masjid if just a few blocks from my home I was able to walk home in between Taraweeh and Tahajuud at 2 a.m. However, after a 17-year-old Muslim girl was abducted while walking home from a mosque here in Virginia and murdered, I chose to stay at the masjid straight through.

I adopted a black Abaya I was given by Khadija, from Morocco, because it was so simple, sleek and cool in the Virginia heat. I believe the abaya is the Muslim fashion equivalent to the non-Muslim's "little black dress" because it is classically beautiful to me and universally appropriate to every occasion.

Almost every non-Muslim I know has recoiled from me in horror, disgust and anger when they saw me in my Abaya and hijab for the first time. They associate the Abaya and black hijabs with every negative Muslim stereotype. My hope is that knowing me, seeing that the only changes in me are for the good, will help soften their hearts.

So it was in those spaces between the praying and swaying that I found I belonged in the Islamic community as much as in the faith. The henna sessions between the end of Taraweeh and 2 a.m. that left women with hands wrapped like mummies will not soon be forgotten.

When I saw women suffering with terrible back spasms, taking pain medicine between prayers, I decided to be brave and offer these women - to whom I hadn't yet spoken - a massage. My grandmother taught me a very effective pressure point technique that works wonders.

You would be amazed how many new friends you make in the final four days of Ramadan if you can relieve someone's suffering during the breaks in prayers!

Now I must confess that I've been afraid of Eid coming because I have no family members willing to come with me. I thought that I would feel lost and alone.
However, the final nights of Ramadan have opened the arms of Allah and I have walked into that sheltering embrace.

The truth is that now, I'm home wherever I go, especially with anyone who is a practicing Muslim. So now I look forward to Eid. My only sad thought is that Ramadan will be over. I will have to wait another entire year to sink as deeply into the community because so many of these brothers and sisters only come to the masjid during this holiday.

Insha'Allah, they will miss it as much as I and will come on Fridays to try and recreate even a fraction of the experience all year-round.

Lisa Suhay is a career journalist with 27 years experience and the mother of five. She is also the author of nine children's books benefiting children's charities. As a long-time community activist she is the founder of both RefugeeHelpers757 and the Norfolk Initiative for Chess Excellence (NICE) www.NiceChess.net.

~My 'Salaams' To All~

~ Y a s m i n ~

~*Never Despair Of The Mercy Of Allah*
 3 roses




News Within the U.S.

 News within the US

The Anglicization of Islam
by Sis. Aisha [Jamaat al-Muslimeen]

New York City - I go to khutbas and I have been hearing Imams use hadiths to tell us Muslims how forgiving Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was with his enemies to the point of breaking bread with them but, they never explain the whole circumstances. They never mention that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) physically fought in the name of Allah against oppression and aggression! Never. They make him appear almost like the image the oppressor has created of Christ (pbuh).

Jesus (pbuh) is seen as someone who never criticized wrongdoing and never fought back (turn the other cheek) when abused. A lot of these beliefs were dispensed to the slaves on the New World plantations. I call it Plantation Christianity because it was dispensed without benefit of the Bible. The goal was to teach a form of Christianity that taught slaves to accept European oppression, not fight it. It was illegal to teach a slave to read and write under penalty of death, in some instances. Illiteracy prevented slaves from verifying the religious information being preached to them. Today, many Black Christian descendants of slaves regurgitate the same biblical misquotes and wear a teary-eyed White image of Christ tattooed on their person.

Well, weak Imams are doing the same thing! These Imams are very critical of Muslims for engaging in physical Jihad around the world but, seem to make more of an effort to extend olive branches to the non-Muslims. They engage in more interfaith activities than with helping Muslims.

According to these weak Imams, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) never did anything but, pray and preach. Sexism and nationalism in Islam is rooted in personal insecurities and xenophobia, which is still terrible. But, Anglicizing Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is more sinister because it takes planning and it is an effort to please the kuffar. Fearing the displeasure of the kuffar rather than Allah is a grave sin!

The beauty of Islam is that we can read the Qur'an and Authentic Hadith for ourselves. All Islamic scholars are Imams but not every Imam is a scholar, unfortunately. Ironically, many of these weak Imams encourage reading the Qur'an and the Authentic Hadiths for ourselves during these khutbas.




ANALYSIS

 Analysis

Funny but Shameful Drama of Eid Moon Sighting.
Most US Muslims have Abandoned the Sunnah of Muhammad, pbuh. Hence they are Despised and Ignored.

By Kaukab Siddique, PhD

Let us look at how US Muslims have dealt with the commands of the Prophet, pbuh.

  1. The most despicable of Muslims are those who have completely abandoned the Sunnah. The date of Eid is already published in their calendars months before the arrival of Ramadan. They have turned Eid into Christmas, Why worry about sighting, they ask.

  2. Then there are the tricksters who tell their congregations that they will follow the Sunnah. Thus their audiences are caught off guard. Then suddenly in the middle of the day before Eid, they announce that tomorrow will be Eid. They are probably instructed by authorities in their home countries to announce. There is a joke about the imam of the fancy new mosque in Greensboro that suddenly in the middle of the day he announced that tomorrow is Eid. People say he can see the crescent in midday, LOL.

  3. Then there are the elitists who believe that in the entire continent of America, if even one person sees the crescent, then it is Eid.
    The elites do not care if millions cannot see the crescent. If one or two or three or five see it, then it is Eid. Islam is not an elitist religion. The elitists do not realize that it is not the task of a handful of experts to shape the lives of the dentire ummah. THAT IS THE WAY TO DICTATORSHIP.

  4. The worshippers of science come next. Technology can help us to predict exactly when the crescent will be sightable even thousands of years in advance. However the Prophet, pbuh, did not teach when it is sightable but when it is SIGHTED.

  5. The most dangerous for gullible are the cultists who claim that "Quran only" is acceptable in Islam, not hadith. Once they have established their presence, they start adding words to the Qur'an. For one such group in Canada, the key word is "globally." Because the Qur'an was revealed in Makka, so according to these "Qur'an onlies" Ramadan and Eid should come out GLOBALLY from Makka. The problem which they try to hide is that there is no Eid or Zakat al-Fitr or even the process of Eid prayers in the Qur'an.


I should relate my personal experience with one group of immigrants who do not follow the Sunnah of sighting. I decided to go and pray with them thinking that I will consider it NAFL prayer and the khutba as just a speech, and I might find some kindred spirits.

The prayer was being held in a ball room although they have their own masjid. When I went in I was surprised to see police officers in full uniform sitting around tables chatting with other non-Muslim visitors. None of the non-Muslim women were following the rules of entry into an Islamic prayer area [the usual non-Muslim dress mode.] They were all chatting, totally ignoring the Muslims who were sitting on sheets on the floor reciting takbirat.

Then came the "icing on the cake." One of the most notorious "imams" in America came in dressed in Azhar style. I have known his despicable pro-regime activities for many years. I decided to leave with the thought that Allah may punish me for praying behind this "bootlicker" of the White House when there is no compulsion on me to do so.

So I left. There was no food in me otherwise I would have gagged.

What did the Prophet, pbuh, command?

The command is for all Muslims, not for experts or individuals.

NARRATOR Abu Huraira, r.a.
SAHIH MUSLIM
HADITH_No 2380
Allah's Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) said: Observe fast on sighting it (the new moon) and break it on sighting it. But if (due to clouds) the actual position of the month is concealed from you, you should then count thirty (days).

This is from the earliest book of Hadith:

NARRATOR Abdullah ibn Umar, r.a
AL-MUWATTA
HADITH_No 18.1.2
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A month has twenty-nine days in it. Do not start the fast or break it until you see the new moon. If the new moon is obscured from you, then work out (when it should be)."

Sighting is local and personal. Someone somewhere saw it does not matter.

NARRATOR Abdullah ibn Abbas, r.a.
SAHIH MUSLIM
HADITH_No 2391
Kurayb said: Umm Fadl, daughter of Harith, sent him (Fadl, i.e. her son) to Mu'awiyah in Syria. I (Fadl) arrived in Syria, and did the needful for her. It was there in Syria that the month of Ramadan commenced. I saw the new moon (of Ramadan) on Friday. I then came back to Medina at the end of the month. Abdullah ibn Abbas asked me (about the new moon of Ramadan) and said: When did you see it? I said: We saw it on Friday night. He said: (Did) you see it yourself? I said: Yes, and the people also saw it so they observed fast and Mu'awiyah also observed fast. Thereupon he said: But we saw it on Saturday night. So we shall continue to observe the fast until we complete thirty (fasts) or we see it (the new moon of Shawwal). I said: Is the sighting of the moon by Mu'awiyah not valid for you? He said: No; this is how the Messenger of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) has commanded us. Yahya ibn Yahya was in doubt (whether the word used in the narration by Kurayb) was Naktafi or Taktafi




Africa

Nigerian Army Exposed. Horrible Crimes. War Continues.

Nigerian soldiers have raped women and girls who fled the insurgency by militant Islamist group Boko Haram, Amnesty International has said.

Troops separated women from their husbands and raped them, sometimes in exchange for food, in refugee camps, the rights group added.

Thousands of people have also starved to death in the camps in north-eastern Nigeria since 2015, Amnesty said.

Latest: June 16. Two human bombers hit the town of Damboa in Borno state killing 31 and injuring 20. This happened only hours after Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai said Borno state had been "liberated." He was speaking at an "inauguration for gunboats."
[BBC June 17]




VIEWPOINT

A major article by a top Bangladeshi intellectual.

 Bangladesh

Power-addict Hasina & the Ongoing Tragedy in Bangladesh Dr Firoz Mahboob Kamal

Let us try to understand the case of Bangladesh. This country has been under the rule of awful power-addicts during the most part of its history since its inception in 1971. In 1970's election, Shaikh Mujib took votes in the name of multi-party parliamentary democracy, but then grabbed power and established one-party autocracy. Like a drug-addict, a power-addict can't stay strict to the established principle or morality; betrayal becomes the norm. So, Mujib's power-addiction led to banning all the opposition political parties and death to more than 30 thousands political activists.

His killing machine could only be stopped at his tragic death in 1975. Another power-addict General Ershad snatched power from an elected government of retired Chief Justice Abdus Satter by a military coup in 1982 and continued his autocratic brutality until ousted by a mass up-rise in 1990. But his ouster didn't bury autocracy in Bangladesh; rather it re-emerged with more brutality under the current power-addict Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina. During her rule, brutality has attained a new and more heinous dimension. Not only the opposition political leaders and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Bangladesh Nationalist Party are targeted for political assassination, crucial military and religious institutions are also targeted for weakening their grip. Hence, 53 military officers were slaughtered and hundreds of imams and religious students of Hefajat-e-Islam were massacred with utter ruthlessness.

Like a drug-addict, a power-addict too, can't survive without crossing the red lines of civilised living. Hence, extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance of the political figures become his or her favoured tools for eliminating the political enemies. This is why, Shaikh Hasina can't think of a political environment that allows the opposition activists freely roaming in the streets and mobilising people; therefore, they are locked up in prisons. Because of her power-addiction, she is ready to tolerate all evils like thievery of government treasury, banks and share market, but not free and fair election. Although the country is known for massive corruption -stood five times first in corruption in the world, but the prisons are full with political activists, not by the corrupt. To stay in power, she thinks it a political necessity to create a fair-election-free Bangladesh. Hence, engineering a rigged election is the part of her savagery. She has blocked not only the practice of basic human rights, free press and other democratic values, rather has taken the country far backward. Hence an impartial election that was possible more than half a century ago in 1937, 1946 or 1954 -in British and Pakistani period, now stands unthinkable in Bangladesh.

Elimination of autocracy: an Islamic necessity
Islam makes people incompatible with the political cum ideological project of all autocratic forces. Rather, makes it an Islamic obligation on every Muslim that he must deploy his physical, moral, spiritual and intellectual endowments to promote the cause of Allah Sub'hana wa Ta'la. It is indeed a heinous treason against the Almighty Allah if he invests His endowments in the service of any secular or anti-Islamic cause. And for promoting His cause, it needs a friendly and promotive environment. Therefore, it makes elimination of autocracy an indispensable Islamic necessity. This is why, the history of Islam is the history of fighting against the autocrats. Through ages, it has always been the moral and ideological binding on every Muslim either to dismantle the autocratic rule and build an Islamic state or migrate from the prison-state of the devil to a safer place -as did Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companions. It is indeed the greatest political sunnah of the prophet (peace be upon him) that shows how to play a civilizational role for the mankind and please Allah Subhana wa Ta'la. In fact, such a sunnah made the Muslims the greatest civilisational power in the whole human history.

A drug-addict can't enjoy his life without his drug. Similarly, a power-addict can't enjoy his life without the unfettered power. A drug-addict goes against the laws secretively. But a power-addict autocrat publicly destroys all civil and military institutions, laws and values that restrict execution of his arrogance. Bangladesh is a true example of that. Its laws, judiciary, media and state institutions are only allowed to fully comply with its power-addict ruler Shaikh Hasina. No one is allowed to stand against her wish. Abdul Qader Mollah -an Islamist leader, was given a judgement of life-long imprisonment for his role in 1971; but Shaikh Hasina and her cronies were not happy with the judgement. To please their whims, the judiciary had to change the judgement to his death by hanging. So, Abdul Qader Mollah had to die. The Supreme Court Chief Justice Surindra Kumar Sinha was still in job; but he had to flee the country hurriedly for his visible incompatibility with Hasina.

Evil of autocracy & the power of true democracy

The prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) was fully aware of the evil project of autocracy. He knew that mere elimination of pagan religious practices is not going to help the mankind. It needs total elimination of autocracy and its evil institutions that promote vile beliefs and brutality against Truth. Otherwise, their toxic beliefs will continue to use the military and the civil institutions of the state for pulling people to the hellfire. They raise huge barriers on the way towards paradise in the name of security, tradition and culture. Islam can't help people getting free from their grip unless their power base is totally dismantled. This is why, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was not only a preacher of Divine Truth, but a destroyer of autocracy and its institutions. So, in Islam, the highest ibada -as well as prophet's greatest sunnah, is not 5 times prayer, month-long fasting, giving charity or haj, but engaging in jihad to destroy the power bases of the evil rulers. Otherwise, practice of Islam become restricted only within the private life or mosques; and Islam loses its place in political, cultural, educational and legal premises of the world -as is the case now. More than 70 percent of the companions of the prophet (peace be upon him) had to sacrifice their lives to carry out that prophetic mission.

The decline of the Muslims started when their rulers take them back to the oppressive prison of autocracy. Autocracy centralises all power in the hand of the ruler. Such empowerment of the ruler happens at the expense of de-empowering of the common people. So, in autocracy, the common people stand truly powerless. The early Muslims could build the finest and the most powerful civilisation on earth only because of massive empowerment of the people and the powerful state infrastructure of khilafa. The whole state infrastructure worked as the immense mobilising instrument to engage people doing the good and forbidding the wrong. Never in history, the common people were involved such massively as the soldiers of Divine Truth to fight the forces of falsehood. But whenever the state and its institutions get hijacked by the opportunistic autocrats, the people get robbed of the most important entitlement of pursuing such[FK1] a sublime Divine goal. The Divine Truth then becomes the worst casualty; and the autocratic barbarity returns with full force. This is indeed the most catastrophic loss for the mankind at the hand of autocratic ruler.

Shaikh Hasina's illegitimacy & crime
In Bangladesh, power-addict Hasina is doing similar damage to Islam and to the Muslims. This is not the first time that they harming the Muslim Ummah. It is indeed the inherited legacy of her father. In 1971 after the defeat of Pakistan Army in former East Pakistan, Shaikh Mujib and his party men -under the umbrella Indian occupational Army, showed huge immorality, brutality and violation of human rights. About half a million non-Bengali Muslims were driven out from their homes, jobs and businesses; and tens of thousands were brutally killed. Hundreds of women were raped. Their belongings were taken by the ruling party's hooligans. Those who survived are made homeless, stateless and forced to live in concentration camps supported only by the UN agencies. Still those camps survive in Bangladesh with the legacy of those untold atrocities. In fact, what is now happening against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar that indeed happened with more brutality to these non-Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh in 1971 by the hands of the ideological Bengali cousins of the Burmese racists. Such brutality never happened in the Bengali Muslims in the past. But such brutality still thrive in the ruling circle of Bangladesh. Only the targets are different.

Shaikh Hasina grabbed power without holding a fair election in 2014. Now, she spent most of her time to hide her illegitimacy. In democracy, the government must draw its legitimacy only from people; and that must come through a proper election. The electoral body and the election process constitute the most important institution in democracy; it works as an effective tool to know the people's verdict. But if it is corrupted or made dysfunctional, those who get elected also lose their legality and credibility. But such a transparent election didn't happen in 2014. The election was so massively boycotted by the people that there was no need to set up polling booth in 153 seats of the parliament. How a government can claim democratic legitimacy with absence of such a huge number of polling centres?

The calamity of moral deprivation
Those who are power-addicts, they find morality a big burden. Therefore, they drop it in the bin on day one of the political career. As a result, moral deprivation or immorality is the part of their life. Because of such moral deprivation, Shaikh Mujib could easily bury multi-party democracy and impose one-party brutal dictatorship. Shaikh Hasina showed the same immoral persuasion vis-à-vis caretaker government. When she was out of power, she fought for it. But when in power, he abolished it. In both the situations, addiction to power was the guiding force; not morality. Whereas, holding parliamentary election under a caretaker government was the consensus formula of all political parties in Bangladesh since 1991. It has its historical background. Since party-based government repeatedly failed to hold fair election in the past, election under a caretaker government was preferred as the only alternative by all the political parties of the country including the Awami League. Under such caretaker government, elections were successfully held in 1991, 1996 and 2000; and its success lies in the fact that there was no post-election chaos about the acceptability of those election. Such successful experiment of caretaker government indeed encouraged other countries like Pakistan to have the same.

Moreover, the constitutional legality of such a caretaker government was never challenged by any political leader, nor by any legal expert. Even Shaikh Hasina couldn't openly raise any objection against it. She could take only a deceitful secretive route by using Chief Justice Abul Khair to abolish it. It is significant to note that even three previous Supreme Court Chief Justices didn't consider it illegal to head the caretaker government. But Chief Justice Abul Khair unsettled the settled issue and opened the door of serious political instability in the country. He was so desperate to serve his presumed beneficiary that he did the job on his own; nobody needed to ask him to deliver a judgment on it. In an unrelated non-constitutional litigation, he jumped on the issue of caretaker government; and abolished it by making a casual remark on its constitutional legality. He didn't allow any legal experts to make any argument on the issue. Whatever he had in his mind was announced as a final Supreme Court verdict. Thus, Shaikh Hasina was given a green signal to go ahead with her agenda. Later on, it came to the press that the same Abul Khair took one million Taka from Prime Minister's Relief Fund.

Now, there exists little doubt about the real beneficiary of his judgment. It gave legality to the sitting Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina to stay in power; and the power gave her the opportunity to engineer an election coup in 2014. It clearly shows how the judiciary can be complicit to promote evil agenda of a power-addict autocrat. In such a forged election, Hasina didn't need to launch any tiresome election campaign; nor did she need to open polling booth in more than half of the country. She could easily manufacture a victory for her party only by appointing a compliant Election Commission and using the servile administrative machinery. Now she is planning to get a similar victory in the similar way. In such forged elections, the victory is so guaranteed for the ruling party that the party stalwarts could openly claim that Shaikh Hasina will stay in power as the life-long Prime Minister.

Bangladesh is back to the square one. The old culture of electoral rigging by the ruling party looks looming. If not tackled, the country may take a disastrous course. Without a functioning heart, how can a body survive? How can democracy survive without a fair and free election? Since free and fair election may lead to the defeat of the ruling party; it isn't an acceptable option for them. They need the guarantee for 100 percent success. For success in 2014, the election was held by keeping the main challenger Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) out of the race. Such an exclusive election still looks the most preferred model for the ruling Awami League. Hence, to block BNP's participation in the election, its chairperson Mrs Khalida Zia is already put in prison. How a train can move without the engine? The same is true for a political party in election.

Therefore, putting Mrs Zia in prison is indeed the calculated strategy to keep BNP out of the election. Such election -even held hundred times, never helps democracy. Rather, promotes brutal autocracy. In such fake election, giving constitutional legitimacy to an illegitimate ruler is its only intention. The people of Bangladesh are politically mature enough to understand such deceitful strategy of the ruling party. Hence, they show their extreme determination to boycott it -as they did in 2014. Here lies the crux of the whole political pathology of Bangladesh. As a result, the symptoms of the confrontational politics between the illegitimate government and the democratic opposition forces stays as the permanent feature. Like drug-addiction, power-addiction too, kills the common sense. Because of that, the ruling Awami League leader fails to understand the simple fact that fake election -even if held ten times, can't solve the problem. It can only aggravate the crisis. Such election only causes a huge wastage of money. But, such wastage of money or poor participation of the people is not an issue for Shaikh Hasina. Her only interest in election is to fulfil a constitutional formality for another five year rule. From an established power-addict what else one can expect?

Shaikh Hasina and her cronies also talks about democracy; but she conveniently forgets that free and fair election is its life-line. In its absence, death of democracy is unavoidable. Then, the people are deprived of any tool to punish the government for its wrongdoing. As a result, the ruling party feels unaccountable; and freely engage in corruption, atrocities, vote rigging and other barbaric evils without any fear. The people may have huge anger, but stand helpless to change the government. As a result, the government can freely use judicial and extrajudicial killing, torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearance and politically motivated criminal cases to eliminate the political opponents. This is why, under the rule of Shaikh Hasina, killing and enforced disappearance of the opposition leaders is so rampant; and public meeting, free press, free election and fair judiciary stand as a rarity. The government is using its weaponised media to smear the defiant leaders. Whosever exposes the government's wrongdoings meets with harsh punishment, and even death. The media is left with no option other than enforced cover-up or doing advocacy for the government policies.

Looming crisis and the only options
The next election is at the door. Shaikh Hasina looks to be in her original form. She doesn't show any sign that she will budge off from the route she took in 2014. She has a strong reason for that. Only 2014-model election can give her 100 percent chances of a sure victory. Otherwise, she risks defeat which she can seldom stomach. Hence, a serious political crisis in Bangladesh looks looming. She had already hanged almost all top-ranking Jama'ati Islami leaders. She could put the main opposition leader Khaleda Zia behind the bar. She could also enforce forced disappearance on hundreds of the key political players. So, Hasina is now in a better position to engineer a similar electoral victory -as did in 2014.

In order to hide her evil intention, Shaikh Hasina is leading a counter-offence against the opposition. She is smearing the main opposition parties as the enemies of democracy and the promoter of Islamic extremism cum terrorism. She is taking those lies to the foreign camps. She thinks such lies will help remove her own illegitimacy and allure the world powers to support her. This is why, her government convened the foreign diplomats at Dhaka on 28th May, 2018 to give them a lecture eulogising her own project and maligning the opposition. She is manipulating Islamophobia of the non-Muslims western countries to pull them to her side. In order to persuade them, her harsh policies towards the Islamic parties are projected as the saleable top credentials.

Now the foreign governments as well as all the stakeholders of Bangladesh have only two options: either to stand for autocratic Shaikh Hasina or support democratisation. Support for a dictator can only damage the fate of democracy in Bangladesh. It can only promote dehumanising political savagery that would make the country unfit for civilised living. Such a savagery of an autocrat only brings civil wars, deaths, destruction and mass migration. Syria gives a good lesson on that. In such a critical juncture, the foreign countries need to make visible their own choice. The political crisis in Bangladesh and the political culture of the ruling Awami League is not unknown to anyone. So, no one needs lecturing on that. Those who love democratic values and basic human rights should do everything for a fair and free election in 2018. Ensuring such an election is indeed the most important single political issue in Bangladesh.

2018-06-17 Sun 20:47:35 ct

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