-
9.11: Failure of U.S. intelligence or a conspiracy? Need for independent inquiry.
-
9.16: the Sabra-Shatilla massacre, Sharon's role in it and Sharon as Bush's best friend.
-
Persecution & humiliation of U.S. Muslims by the government.
-
Need for Christian-Muslim unity against Zionism regardless of "anti-semitic" label.
-
The sell-out by ISNA-ICNA-CAIR leaders to the oppressors and betrayal of Islam by these 3.
-
Need for independent Muslim media [such as "currentissues.tv.']
-
Brief intro to the condition of Islamic political prisoners: Imam Jamil, Shaikh Omar 'Abdel Rahman, Prof. Sami al-Arian, Dr. Kifah al-Jayyousi, Jose Padilla, and Ahmed 'Abdel Sattar. State terrorism against Imam Warith Deen Umar
-
Zionist attempts to silence Dr. Kaukab Siddique.
The interview is available at: http://currentissues.tv
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Religion is not based on reason but on revelation and faith. Which part of Catholicism is based on reason? Islam does accept reason in support of revelation.
-
Jihad [armed struggle] is central to Islam. The Muslims cannot accept slavery. They fight by Allah's command in SELF-DEFENSE, AGAINST OPPRESSION, to end slavery, for the honor of women, and against cultural imperialism.
-
Jihad does not mean that Islam is to be imposed on anyone by force of arms. To say that the Prophet, pbuh, did so is the grossest insult Benedict XVI has aimed at the best of men, Prophet Muhammad, pbuh. The messenger of Allah forgave his worst enemies and struck at the Jews only when they moved with arms to destroy the Islamic community from within.
-
The Pope should think: Who launched the Crusades, the INQUISITION, the extermination of American "Indians" and the destruction of "Indian" [Native American] civilizations?
-
Under the Cross, 400 years of slavery were imposed on millions of human beings stolen from Africa.
-
The Pope is on weak ground. He has even forgotten the barbaric massacres of the Ethiopian people by Mussolini.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Waheeduddin Ahmed, Ph.D. [Milwaukee, Wisconsin]
Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI to Catholics, has explicitly declared himself to be what he is and has wrapped his declaration in academic jargon. Should we object to this? I think not. Should Turkey withdraw its invitation to him? I think not. Customarily we have welcomed worthy enemies as guests. Should Muslim countries withdraw their ambassadors from the Vatican? I think not, because ambassadorial relations do not depend upon friendliness. Enemies need to talk and need to understand each other. Ratzinger has done us a favor by letting us know what is going on in his mind. In this respect, at least he is better than some European heads of governments.
Ratzinger hails from Bavaria, a part of Germany and has indicated in his past statements that he is a passionate believer in maintaining the Christian/racial purity of Europe. He does not believe that Turkey belongs in Europe. He says that she should apply for membership in the Asiatic Islamic bloc, where she belongs. As the head of the Catholic church, he gave audience in 2005 to Oriana Fallaci, an Italian journalist, who died recently and who wrote: "The sons of Allah breed like rats" and said that Europe was no longer Europe. It was "Eurabia", a colony of Islam, where the Islamic invasion did not proceed only in a physical sense, but also in a mental and cultural sense. Such concurrence immediately secured her an audience with Ratzinger the Pope.
Derogatory remarks about Islam and Muslims are not a new thing. They are to be expected.You cannot expect your enemies to shower flowers on you. Christianity and Islam have had an intermittent adversarial relationship ever since the clash with the Byzantine army. It is interesting to note that Ratzinger has invoked a historical dialogue between the Byzantine emperor in the Fourteenth century and the "Persian interlocutor" and puts the onus on Theodore (Adil) Khoury, a Christian Lebanese writer, to cleverly disguise his own opinion, a dishonesty unbecoming of any Pope but Ratzinger.
His lecture, which is the subject of this controversy, is a discussion of faith and reason. His starting point is the Quran, which he says rejects reason in appealing to the soul, instead relies upon physical compulsion. He says that not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to Gods nature and in contrast presents Islam to be averse to reason and says that according to Ibn Hazm "God doesnt have to act with reason, is not bound by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us and were it Gods will, we would even have to practice idolatry." Ibn Hazm was a Tenth century Muslim scholar of Spain, a protagonist of the Zahiri school of thought. Ratzinger surmises that Christianity was a product of synthesis between the faith of the Old Testament and the Greek philosophy of reason. Here he detaches Christianity from its Hebraic origin and occidentalizes it, thus once again revealing his European partisanship.
His is a scholarly presentation since he is first and foremost a scholar of theology. If he meant to throw a challenge to Muslim scholars to discuss the merits and demerits of the two religions in terms of faith and reason, any third grade Muslim scholar would be most willing to accept it. However, Ratzinger must first give up his post and go back to the academics. In contemporary history, Popes have never indulged in inter-religious debates. At least the last three Popes were the conscience of the world and commanded respect from all the religions. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was wrong in suggesting that the Pope meant to start a debate. No, he meant to derogate and debase a religion. His statements and his stances vis-à-vis world issues have exposed a racial bias. It is not up to us to say how Christianity should be defined. It is up to the Christians to say what their Pope should represent and it is up to the non-European Catholics to say whether a racially biased Pope is acceptable to them.
------------------------------------------------------
Post Katrina and 9/11, Insight Into The Soul of America
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III
During the week of August 28, 2006 America commemorated the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the greatest Atlantic hurricane and natural disaster in American history. During the week of September 11, 2006 America is commemorating the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Both of these commemorations allow Americans a unique opportunity to mourn tragic losses and more importantly peer into the soul of America. The national governments response to these events and the manner in which the "refugees" of Katrina and the respondents to 9/11 have been dealt with dramatize a critical shift in the political psyche or mindset in the American body politic.
On May 22, 1964 President Lyndon Johnson addressed the graduates at the University of Michigan and gave what is now known as "The Great Society Speech." In this address President Johnson spoke about the future of America. He asked if Americans have the wisdom to use Americas wealth " to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our American civilization." President Johnson told those graduates that they had the opportunity to move America forward to become not only a rich and powerful society " but upward to the Great Society."
He went on to say that the "Great Society" was not a ultimate goal but an ongoing challenge to ensure that " the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor." To accomplish this President Johnson called upon America to use its wealth and resources " to create new concepts of cooperation, a creative federalism, between the National Capital and the leaders of local communities." What has become of our "Great Society," what has become of the soul of America?
As we reflect upon Katrina and peer into the mirror of history, seeing those mostly poor people of all colors, ethnic groups, the elderly, and children sitting on roof tops, floating on mattresses, and huddled under highway overpasses in the searing heat without food and water we must ask, at the height of the greatest National disaster in American history, where was our National government? Where were the resources of the wealthiest nation in the history of the world when its citizens were in their gravest hour of need? Where was the leadership of those sworn to protect the public good? Two days after the greatest National disaster in America was playing out before our vary eyes on national television this nations leader was 3,400 miles away playing the guitar at a country and western show in San Diego, CA. President George "Nero" Bush fiddled while the Gulf Coast drowned!
As we reflect upon the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and peer into the reality of now, we praise but fail to assist those selfless individuals, the "first respondents" to the scene who now, five years out find themselves suffering from lung disease and dying from the toxic mixture of pulverized cement, asbestos, paper, glass, and other unknown particles and contaminants. They inhaled that air born cocktail of death in order to save lives. Now many of their lives hang in the balance while the resources of the wealthiest nation in the history of the world are not being made available to assist them. For their acts of heroism we embrace them and sing praise; for their physical suffering and mental anguish we cast them aside to fend for themselves.
As we peer into this mirror we see a culture that has changed, a paradigm that has shifted, a script that has been flipped. Forty-two years ago President Johnson called upon this nation to use its vast resources in order to help the least of us. He prescribed that we redistribute income and wealth so that those with the least could have a safety net, a provider of last resort. The President asked if Americans have the wisdom to use Americas wealth " to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our American civilization." Today we are a corptocracy. We redistribute wealth but not to the least of us, now, it goes to those with the most. Weve ended "welfare as you know it." Now your taxes fund corporate welfare, billion dollar defense contracts to Lockheed-Martin, no-bid contracts to Halliburton, and greater profits for Bechtel and the Carlyle group.
The poem "The New Colossus <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Colossus>" is engraved on the Statue of Liberty, its final lines read, "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, lift my lamp beside the golden door! What happened to that "kinder gentler nation" and those "thousand points of light" that President George H.W. Bush called for? Where is the compassion from those "compassionate conservatives" that President George W. Bush called for?
I ask what has happened to the soul of America? Has the light of that lamp been extinguished; has the golden door been closed? God Bless America? No, God Help Us All!
Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program "On With Leon", Producer/Host of the television program "Inside The Issues With Wilmer Leon" and a Teaching Associate in the Department of Political Science at Howard University in Washingto, D.C. Go to
www.wilmerleon.com <http://www.wilmerleon.com> or email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]© 2006 InfoWave Commuications, LLC.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homeland Security were allowed into ISNA Convention: Ingrid Mattson Quiet on Major Issues. Muslim Leaders Silent about Domestic Abuse
by Hadayai Majeed [Atlanta, Georgia]
Like New Trend? Forward it to your friends, or send us their email addresses.
To unsubscribe, simply write UNSUBSCRIBE and click on SEND.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
***************************************************************************
{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Recommended:
http://www.ikhwanweb.com
http://www.islamonline.net
http://www.islam-guide.com
http://www.prophetmuhammadforall.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise.
If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest".
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___