Elite capitalist nations, such as America, UK and Canada, portray aid packages to Muslim countries as charity. But, in reality, this money is an investment that enables the colonial powers to maintain their influence in the Muslim lands. Foreign aid is a tool of control. We must call on the Ummah to reject the continued subordination of our affairs to these colonial nations. We must call on the people of influence in the Muslim lands to reject foreign aid and set a course that is subordinate to none but Allah (swt).
In October, US President Barack Obama signed into law the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009. The bill, also known as the Kerry-Lugar Bill, promises to send $7.5 billion in “aid” over a period of 5 years. However, the conditions attached to the bill are a cause of concern for many, including the Pakistani army, who see the bill as an infringement on national security.

Foreign Aid: “No Free Lunch”
When analyzing the actions of nations that adopt the capitalist ideology, such as America, it is important to recognize that they do not provide assistance – monetary or otherwise – for free. A closer look at the Kerry-Lugar Bill will reveal that the aid package comes with the following conditions:

1. US can inspect Pakistan’s nuclear programs on demand.
2. Washington must confirm military promotions and appointments made by the Pakistani civilian leaders.
3. Pakistan must accept American and British blame – without dispute – for their failures in Afghanistan.
4. Pakistani military must cease support for extremist and terrorist groups – which include Muslims who resist occupation in Kashmir and Afghanistan – and prevent them from undertaking any operations in neighboring countries.
5. “Pakistani national, regional, and local officials and members of Pakistani civil society and local private sector, civic, religious, and tribal leaders” must implement projects as dictated by the US.
6. Pakistan must change its curricula for Madrassas.
Pakistan is also expected to sacrifice its troops – the sons of this noble Ummah – for the sake of America’s brutal occupation of Afghanistan. This is in addition to the lives that will be lost from America’s bombing campaign conducted by its unmanned drones.
The Kerry-Lugar Bill is not the first foreign aid package sent to Pakistan. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the US alone has sent $16.7 billion from 1946-2007 in economic and military assistance. Despite this “aid” being sent, the situation in Pakistan has not improved.

Where does the money go?
The money sent by the US, UK, Canada and other capitalist nations mostly ends up in the pockets of the multi-national corporations. According to the New York Times, 45% of the aid sent by the Bush administration to Pakistan eventually reached the hands of American private contractors. A similar trend exists in Afghanistan. According to Action Aid, as much as 60% of aid is considered “phantom aid”, which does not even make it to Afghanistan. Instead, it is funneled directly to the bank accounts of American corporations. Aid is also a means to support the puppet government: it was reported in the Telegraph that the Karzai government depends on foreign countries for 90% of its revenues. The bulk of this comes from the US (who pledged about $10 billion in 2008). The article notes that without this money, the Karzai government would not be able to stand against the Taliban. The aid money is used to fund the local puppet government, who in turn implements the foreign policies of the sponsor country. In other words, this money is not intended to help the poor people of Afghanistan. Rather it is being used to prop up the puppet government that is a tool of America.
The arrangement of “paying-off” the local ruling class is routine amongst the colonial capitalist nations. Take, for example, the submarine deal between Pakistan and France. A French company was hired to build submarines for the Pakistani army. In 2002, 11 French engineers who worked for this company were killed in a bomb blast that occurred in Karachi, Pakistan. Initially, the blame was put on Al-Qaeda. However, an investigating judge from France claims that the bombing actually traced back to a deal-gone-sour between the French government and the Pakistani government. The judge alleged that the Pakistani army killed the French nationals because France stopped paying “commissions” to Pakistani army officials on the sale of submarines.
In Egypt, a comparable relationship exists between the country’s ruling elite and their American paymasters. A 2006 article in Al-Ahram Weekly noted that Egypt received $1.3 billion in foreign military financing and $1.2 billion in international military education and training. By paying the army directly, its dependence on America is ensured. Through its training initiatives, America can also recruit agents. The article noted that David Welch, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, saw Egypt as a key tool in America’s foreign policy in terms of exerting American influence in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, and Iran.
America is not alone in using aid to wield their influence in the Muslim lands. Canada partakes in this game as well. In Afghanistan, Canada funnels the aid through non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including Oxfam and CARE Canada. The Canadian government does not want to give the aid money to the Karzai regime and prop-up America’s puppet. Furthermore, Karzai is mired in so much corruption that the money will be “diverted” before it is used in the manner that would achieve Canada’s interests in Afghanistan.

Colonialism: Emanating from the Capitalist Aqeedah
The Western nations vying for influence in the Muslim lands is colonialism in disguise. The colonial policy emanates from the capitalist aqeedah, which maintains that the sole criterion for action is “benefit and harm”. According to the capitalist formulation of foreign policy, nations conduct foreign policy by furthering their interests and protecting them abroad. Of course the main interest of the capitalist nations is economic. This means that these nations will compete with each other to access cheap natural resources at the expense of the weaker nations. The Ummah witnessed this policy with the American invasion of Iraq; the invading American army protected the oil ministry, but left the people to fend for themselves. Furthermore, the capitalist economic system depends on the procurement of cheap resources and cheap labor to pad the bottom line of its corporations and drive the stock prices and the stock market indices higher.
When comparing the rulers of Muslim lands and their supporters to the Sahaba (ra), we see a stark contrast. The Sahaba (ra) were loyal to Allah (swt) and RasulAllah (saw). For example, when Ka’ab Bin Malik (ra) was boycotted by the Ummah – by the command of Allah (swt) – he received a letter from a pro-Roman King of Ghassan (who had deep hatred for Islam), inviting him to leave Madinah and live in “comfort and consolation” with the Christians. After reading the letter, Ka’ab (ra) simply burned it. However, today is a different story. We see the rulers and their supporters running after America and Britain in a manner that is void of any izzah (dignity). One wonders how the Ummah fell from such heights of honor and dignity to the current pitiful state.

Intellectual Slavery: How did we get here?
Although the intellectual decline had been in progress for centuries, it was the fall of the Khilafah and the onset of the European occupation that led to the emergence of these tyrants and elites that rule the Ummah today. Through this direct occupation, the Europeans were able to secure the institutions of power. They were able to change the ruling system, the judicial system, the education system, the eco-nomic system and the social system throughout the occupied Muslim lands. These systems – along with the common emotions and common thoughts of the people – are what bind the society together, and, through them, the Europeans were able to corrupt the Ummah. Any Islamic alternatives that were offered by the Ummah during these times of colonial rule were eliminated. For example, in Algeria, scholars attempted to preserve the Islamic culture, heritage and language. However, they were continually harassed, arrested, and persecuted by the French occupation until they were silenced.
The present rulers and intellectuals (e.g. civil servants, educators, etc) grew up in this environment. They were immersed in European thoughts and concepts. They were taught about European history and European wars, but were not taught the Seerah of the Prophet (saw) or the history of the Khilafah. Consequently, they knew more about European philosophers than about Mus’ab ibn Umayr (ra), Saad ibn Mua’dh (ra) or the other Sahaba (ra). The colonized personality became the model of their thoughts through the European education system. This vision for engendering a colonized mentality was articulated in 1854 by Mountstuart Elphinstone, who said ”we must not dream of perpetual possession, but must apply ourselves to bring the natives into a state that will admit of their governing themselves in a manner that may be beneficial to our interests…”.
As a result of this process, the ruling class within the Muslim countries today looks solely to America and Europe for solutions – because that is all they are familiar with. It has become natural for these people to have cordial relations with the very enemies that once occupied them! By extension, it is natural for this segment of society to accept the continued intervention of America, Britain, France and other elite capitalist nations, in the affairs of the Ummah – be it through foreign aid, economic assistance or direct intervention.

Political Independence: A Vital Issue for the Ummah
As demonstrated above, “foreign aid” is really a means for the capitalist nations to enslave the Muslim countries, and more importantly, it is haram for Muslim countries to allow themselves to become colonized by other nations. Allah (swt) revealed:
وَلَنْ يَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ سَبِيلًا
"And never will Allah grant to the disbelievers a way (to triumph) over the believers."[TMQ 4:141]
It is important to link the issue to halal and haram, as this is the only criterion that is valid before Allah (swt). Connecting the issue of halal and haram to Allah (swt) and the akhira is a core aspect of dawah as the hukm (ruling) of Allah (swt) is the correct way to measure the issues we face – as opposed to the criterion of “benefit and harm” used by the capitalists.
Once the correct criterion is established, we must also convince the Ummah that such an approach is politically disastrous. We must lobby the people of power and influence them to make themselves independent of foreign aid. We must raise the points and evidences discussed above and demonstrate how this policy leads the country to become subordinate to the capitalist nations. Alhumdullilah, Allah (swt) has blessed the Ummah with the Qur’an and Sunnah, offering comprehensive Guidance in all of life’s affairs and for all times – we do not need their “theories” or “solutions”. Allah (swt) has blessed our Ummah with good people and blessed our lands with tremendous wealth – we do not need their paper dollars that steadily lose their value every day.
Islam was revealed to be a beacon of light for all of humanity. But this cannot happen until the Ummah becomes intellectually and politically independent of the secular-capitalist system, and establishes its thoughts and systems on the guidance of Islam.
May Allah (swt) guide this Ummah, restore our izzah, and grant us a righteous leadership that will implement upon us Islam and rid us of the interference of the colonial powers.
وَنَزَّلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ تِبْيَانًا لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةً وَبُشْرَى لِلْمُسْلِمِين
“We revealed the Book to you in explanation of every thing, and as guidance, mercy, and good tidings to those who believe.”[TMQ 16:89]

Source: http://islamicsystem.blogspot.com/2009/11/foreign-aid-path-to-slavery.html

Who is this brother?
His brother says of him: “Tarek Mehanna is a 27 year old Muslim Egyptian American born and raised in the United States. Highly educated, Tarek holds a doctorate in pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. He is a devout and tolerant Muslim who is not only respected in the local Islamic and interfaith communities, but who also gives back to his Islamic community by fulfilling the roles of brother, educator, mentor, scholar, and friend. Tarek is described by those who know him well as humble, reserved, warm, peaceful, intelligent, knowledgeable, reflective, pragmatic, dedicated, and straightforward. He is a person with strong ethical values who refuses to compromise on them regardless of the circumstances.”

How can you know him?
See his blog: http://iskandrani.wordpress.com/  (MyUmmah regularly publishes some of his works)

Some History:

This is abridged from the brother of Tarek Mehanna:

The FBI after trying to recruit Tarek as an informant and his flat out refusal to backstab his fellow Muslim brothers and sisters: The FBI then proceeded to repeatedly approach Tarek over the coming months, each time pressuring him more and more to collaborate with them.

This pressure came in the form of:

·         Blackmail
·         Threats that unless he consented to cooperating with the FBI, they would continue finding new ways to disrupt his life and to deprive him of a sense of security.

He was told outright by interrogators that they knew he was innocent, but that they would not be satisfied with his refusal to cooperate. Regardless of whether their methods were unethical, coercive, or failed to respect his civil rights, the FBI were quite fortunate in catching an opportunity to arrest Tarek in 2008 based on a weak accusation of issuing "false statements" to a federal officer. After two months of imprisonment, his court-appointed attorney, Jay Carney, jr. was able to negotiate a bail settlement of $1,250,000. Tarek was subsequently released after this absurdly inflated amount was paid by his parents, who were desperate to have him return home safely.

Tarek did return home for nearly a year, living a quiet life, restricted by a court-ordered curfew, and monitored by FBI investigators. In the meantime, the case against him, based on "false testimony" charges, began to stagnate, and court dates were far and in between with no advances made by the FBI. Over time, the Mehanna family began to finally feel a sense of restored normalcy and stability in their lives. This feeling was suddenly and violently shattered during the fajr hours of September 21st, 2009, when FBI agents showed up at the Mehanna home doorstep at 5:00AM in the morning. Despite the lack of ANY new evidence since the prior arrest, the agents came with an arrest warrant. According to Dr. Ahmed Mehanna, Tarek’s father, the agents were visibly excited and enthusiastic about their invasion of the Mehanna private household and the seizure and arrest of Tarek. The situation facing Tarek now is one where his second arrest means that there is no chance for bail. Tarek is currently incarcerated at the Plymouth Correctional Facility, where he is expected to remain for the several year duration of a new trial based on outright FALSE AND LUDICROUS accusations of aiding and abetting terrorism. He currently faces LIFE IN PRISON if convicted guilty in a trial by grand jury. We must offer our greatest support and most dedicated effort if there is to be hope of Tarek’s release.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

·         As the brothers from www.pureislam.co.za said: “We ask everyone to remember br Tarek in your duas and ask Allah to grant him and his family sabr and steadfastness in this time of trial.”

·         Further to this, please take the two minutes further of your time, and go to the link: http://www.petitiononline.com/Tarekm/petition.html

·         You can also, send this message to all you know, print it, and share it with your family – and get others to at the least make du’ah for the brother.

·         Write to the brother and his family, showing support:

From: www.cageprisoners.com

Tarek Mehanna
ID# 50660
Room E327
Unit E3
Plymouth Country Correctional Facility
26 Long Pond Road
Plymouth
MA 02360
USA

Remember to try the very best you capable of and more -  to live upon Qur’an and Sunnah:

·         “Indeed, the believers are brothers…” [al-Hujurat; 10]

·         “The male and female believers are allies of one another…”[at-Tawbah;71]

Muhammad S.A.W. said:

·         “Feed the hungry, visit the sick, and free the prisoner!”

·         “It is upon the Muslim faithful to free their prisoners and to pay their ransom.”

·         “There is no Muslim who forsakes a Muslim in a situation where his reputation and honor are violated except that Allah will forsake him in a situation where he would want His help, and there is no Muslim who helps a Muslim in a situation where his reputation and honor are being violated except that Allah will help him in a situation where he would want His help.”

·         “The believer to the rest of the believers is like the head to the body: the believer is pained at what afflicts the rest of the believers just as the head feels the pain of whatever afflicts the body.”

·         “Whoever relieves a Muslim of a hardship in this life, Allah will relieve him of a hardship in the Hereafter, and Allah will help His slave so much as he helps his brother.”

In Conclusion:

A reminder from: Shaikh Abu Baseer in his article on Free the Prisoner!

“O Muslims, you want the scholars and callers to Allah to openly proclaim the truth and to fulfill their obligations towards the Ummah, yet if they do this and are afflicted with trials and hardships such as their being thrown into the depths of the prisons of the oppressors, you abandon them and distance yourselves from them, and sit back from helping them as if you don’t know them and they have no rights over you… “That is a division that is most unfair!” [an-Najm; 22] So, Islam should be aided by the Muslim people as well as their active scholars together – not one instead of the other.

A door to the doors of good has been opened for you, O slave of Allah! So, take advantage of it before it shuts and you are prevented from this abundant good! This door is that you see to the needs of your imprisoned brothers and their families and children. So, I give glad tidings to those who take advantage of this before the door is shut, and they spend the rest of their lives in regret!”

"Don’t look at the meagerness of your sin, look at who it was that you disobeyed." – Bilaal ibn Sa’d

Terry Holdbrooks stood watch over prisoners at Gitmo. What he saw made him adopt their faith. By Dan Ephron

Army specialist Terry Holdbrooks had been a guard at Guantánamo for about six months the night he had his life-altering conversation with detainee 590, a Moroccan also known as “the General.” This was early 2004, about halfway through Holdbrooks’s stint at Guantánamo with the 463rd Military Police Company. Until then, he’d spent most of his day shifts just doing his duty. He’d escort prisoners to interrogations or walk up and down the cellblock making sure they weren’t passing notes. But the midnight shifts were slow. “The only thing you really had to do was mop the center floor,” he says. So Holdbrooks began spending part of the night sitting cross-legged on the ground, talking to detainees through the metal mesh of their cell doors.

He developed a strong relationship with the General, whose real name is Ahmed Errachidi. Their late-night conversations led Holdbrooks to be more skeptical about the prison, he says, and made him think harder about his own life. Soon, Holdbrooks was ordering books on Arabic and Islam. During an evening talk with Errachidi in early 2004, the conversation turned to the shahada, the one-line statement of faith that marks the single requirement for converting to Islam (”There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet”). Holdbrooks pushed a pen and an index card through the mesh, and asked Errachidi to write out the shahada in English and transliterated Arabic. He then uttered the words aloud and, there on the floor of Guantánamo’s Camp Delta, became a Muslim.

When historians look back on Guantánamo, the harsh treatment of detainees and the trampling of due process will likely dominate the narrative. Holdbrooks, who left the military in 2005, saw his share. In interviews over recent weeks, he and another former guard told NEWSWEEK about degrading and sometimes sadistic acts against prisoners committed by soldiers, medics and interrogators who wanted revenge for the 9/11 attacks on America. But as the fog of secrecy slowly lifts from Guantánamo, other scenes are starting to emerge as well, including surprising interactions between guards and detainees on subjects like politics, religion and even music. The exchanges reveal curiosity on both sides—sometimes even empathy. “The detainees used to have conversations with the guards who showed some common respect toward them,” says Errachidi, who spent five years in Guantánamo and was released in 2007. “We talked about everything, normal things, and things [we had] in common,” he wrote to NEWSWEEK in an e-mail from his home in Morocco.

Holdbrooks’s level of identification with the other side was exceptional. No other guard has volunteered that he embraced Islam at the prison (though Errachidi says others expressed interest). His experience runs counter to academic studies, which show that guards and inmates at ordinary prisons tend to develop mutual hostility. But then, Holdbrooks is a contrarian by nature. He can also be conspiratorial. When his company visited the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Holdbrooks remembers thinking there had to be a broader explanation, and that the Bush administration must have colluded somehow in the plot.

But his misgivings about Guantánamo—including doubts that the detainees were the “worst of the worst”—were shared by other guards as early as 2002. A few such guards are coming forward for the first time. Specialist Brandon Neely, who was at Guantánamo when the first detainees arrived that year, says his enthusiasm for the mission soured quickly. “There were a couple of us guards who asked ourselves why these guys are being treated so badly and if they’re actually terrorists at all,” he told NEWSWEEK. Neely remembers having long conversations with detainee Ruhal Ahmed, who loved Eminem and James Bond and would often rap or sing to the other prisoners. Another former guard, Christopher Arendt, went on a speaking tour with former detainees in Europe earlier this year to talk critically about the prison.

Holdbrooks says growing up hard in Phoenix—his parents were junkies and he himself was a heavy drinker before joining the military in 2002—helps explain what he calls his “anti-everything views.” He has holes the size of quarters in both earlobes, stretched-out piercings that he plugs with wooden discs. At his Phoenix apartment, bedecked with horror-film memorabilia, he rolls up both sleeves to reveal wrist-to-shoulder tattoos. He describes the ink work as a narrative of his mistakes and addictions. They include religious symbols and Nazi SS bolts, track marks and, in large letters, the words BY DEMONS BE DRIVEN. He says the line, from a heavy-metal song, reminds him to be a better person.

Holdbrooks—TJ to his friends—says he joined the military to avoid winding up like his parents. He was an impulsive young man searching for stability. On his first home leave, he got engaged to a woman he’d known for just eight days and married her three months later. With little prior exposure to religion, Holdbrooks was struck at Gitmo by the devotion detainees showed to their faith. “A lot of Americans have abandoned God, but even in this place, [the detainees] were determined to pray,” he says.

Holdbrooks was also taken by the prisoners’ resourcefulness. He says detainees would pluck individual threads from their jumpsuits or prayer mats and spin them into long stretches of twine, which they would use to pass notes from cell to cell. He noticed that one detainee with a bad skin rash would smear peanut butter on his windowsill until the oil separated from the paste, then would use the oil on his rash.

Errachidi’s detention seemed particularly suspect to Holdbrooks. The Moroccan detainee had worked as a chef in Britain for almost 18 years and spoke fluent English. He told Holdbrooks he had traveled to Pakistan on a business venture in late September 2001 to help pay for his son’s surgery. When he crossed into Afghanistan, he said, he was picked up by the Northern Alliance and sold to American troops for $5,000. At Guantánamo, Errachidi was accused of attending a Qaeda training camp. But a 2007 investigation by the London Times newspaper appears to have corroborated his story; it eventually helped lead to his release.

In prison, Errachidi was an agitator. “Because I spoke English, I was always in the face of the soldiers,” he wrote NEWSWEEK in an e-mail. Errachidi said an American colonel at Guantánamo gave him his nickname, and warned him that generals “get hurt” if they don’t cooperate. He said his defiance cost him 23 days of abuse, including sleep deprivation, exposure to very cold temperatures and being shackled in stress positions. “I always believed the soldiers were doing illegal stuff and I was not ready to keep quiet.” (Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said in response: “Detainees have often made claims of abuse that are simply not supported by the facts.”) The Moroccan spent four of his five years at Gitmo in the punishment block, where detainees were denied “comfort items” like paper and prayer beads along with access to the recreation yard and the library.

Errachidi says he does not remember details of the night Holdbrooks converted. Over the years, he says, he discussed a range of religious topics with guards: “I spoke to them about subjects like Father Christmas and Ishac and Ibrahim [Isaac and Abraham] and the sacrifice. About Jesus.” Holdbrooks recalls that when he announced he wanted to embrace Islam, Errachidi warned him that converting would be a serious undertaking and, at Guantánamo, a messy affair. “He wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into.” Holdbrooks later told his two roommates about the conversion, and no one else.

But other guards noticed changes in him. They heard detainees calling him Mustapha, and saw that Holdbrooks was studying Arabic openly. (At his Phoenix apartment, he displays the books he had amassed. They include a leather-bound, six-volume set of Muslim sacred texts and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam.”) One night his squad leader took him to a yard behind his living quarters, where five guards were waiting to stage a kind of intervention. “They started yelling at me,” he recalls, “asking if I was a traitor, if I was switching sides.” At one point a squad leader pulled back his fist and the two men traded blows, Holdbrooks says.

Holdbrooks spent the rest of his time at Guantánamo mainly keeping to himself, and nobody bothered him further. Another Muslim who served there around the same time had a different experience. Capt. James Yee, a Gitmo chaplain for much of 2003, was arrested in September of that year on suspicion of aiding the enemy and other crimes—charges that were eventually dropped. Yee had become a Muslim years earlier. He says the Muslims on staff at Gitmo—mainly translators—often felt beleaguered. “There was an overall atmosphere by the command to vilify Islam.” (Commander Gordon’s response: “We strongly disagree with the assertions made by Chaplain Yee”).

At Holdbrooks’s next station, in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he says things began to unravel. The only place to kill time within miles of the base was a Wal-Mart and two strip clubs—Big Daddy’s and Big Louie’s. “I’ve never been a fan of strip clubs, so I hung out at Wal-Mart,” he says. Within months, Holdbrooks was released from the military—two years before the end of his commitment. The Army gave him an honorable discharge with no explanation, but the events at Gitmo seemed to loom over the decision. The Army said it would not comment on the matter.

Back in Phoenix, Holdbrooks returned to drinking, in part to suppress what he describes as the anger that consumed him. (Neely, the other ex-guard who spoke to NEWSWEEK, said Guantánamo had made him so depressed he spent up to $60 a day on alcohol during a monthlong leave from the detention center in 2002.) Holdbrooks divorced his wife and spiraled further. Eventually his addictions landed him in the hospital. He suffered a series of seizures, as well as a fall that resulted in a bad skull fracture and the insertion of a titanium plate in his head.

Recently, Holdbrooks has been back in touch with Errachidi, who has suffered his own ordeal since leaving the detention center. Errachidi told NEWSWEEK he had trouble adjusting to his freedom, “trying to learn how to walk without shackles and trying to sleep at night with the lights off.” He signed each of the dozen e-mails he sent to NEWSWEEK with the impersonal ID that his captors had given him: Ahmed 590.

Holdbrooks, now 25, says he quit drinking three months ago and began attending regular prayers at the Tempe Islamic Center, a mosque near the University of Phoenix, where he works as an enrollment counselor. The long scar on his head is now mostly hidden under the lace of his Muslim kufi cap. When the imam at Tempe introduced Holdbrooks to the congregation and explained he’d converted at Guantánamo, a few dozen worshipers rushed over to shake his hand. “I would have thought they had the most savage soldiers serving there,” says the imam, Amr Elsamny, an Egyptian. “I never thought it would be someone like TJ.”

Check out the video below:

Basheer Qazi from IslamPerspective has an interesting insight on the Iraqi Shoethrower

Should we be cherishing freedom of expression in Iraq?
On the 14th of December 2008 an Iraqi journalist, Muntazar al-Zaidi threw his shoes, one after the other, at outgoing US president Bush during a press conference in Baghdad, in full glare of the media. This incident immediately made global headlines and the video footage has been replayed repeatedly, becoming a firm favorite to watch on the internet.

Opinion over the action of 29 year old al-Zaidi, has been sharply divided. The majority of Arabs considered this an act of herorsm and bravery, reflecting their own bitter sentiments about the US aggression in Iraq and the established impotence of their own governments. Al-Zaidi’s brother said, “Millions of Iraqis or rather millions of the people of the world wish to do what Muntadhar did…Thank God he had the guts to do it and avenge the Iraqi people and the country from those who plunder it and have killed its people.” It is noteworthy that Muslims across the world while supporting al-Zaidi’s actions didn’t show concern about whether he was a Shia or a Sunni. If one was to believe British and American propaganda, this shouldn’t have been the case, as they have tried hard to build this sectarian divide.

But likewise there was vocal condemnation from some quarters and understandably from the US-backed Iraqi government. As one local Iraqi stated, “I deem it unnecessary. This thing is unjustifiable. It is an incorrect style. We are not violent. One can voice his opinion in other ways,”
Navigating through this sharp divide, one particular theme emerged that caught my attention and which I want to focus on. This theme was echoed by Bush himself in the immediate aftermath of the shoe-attack, when asked by a reporter, he mentioned that this was freedom of expression.

This statement has been packaged by quite a few to demonstrate the ‘moral dominance’ of capitalism over other ways of life, by posing questions such as: “just imagine what would have happened to the shoe-thrower under the Saddam regime?” or, “would it have been possible in first place that someone would dare throw his shoes on dictators like Saddam, Abdullah or Musharraf in their respective countries?”

These sorts of questions need serious scrutiny as otherwise people will jump to the fallacious conclusion that western capitalism and the US-led invasion has brought some good, which is freedom of expression.

I would like to argue from three different angles, challenging this lie of the superiority of western capitalism and secular democracies.

1. The first point is that whenever Muslims want to evaluate a system it needs to be done on the basis of Islam and therefore the comparison should be between capitalism and Islam, not capitalism and dictatorship, monarchy or oligarchy. If you just try to look for something worse than what you are evaluating, you will always find it and therefore it is a futile exercise giving us no reasonable evaluation or judgment. If we were to compare the state of affairs about freedom of expression to account the ruler in Islam, we would learn that Islam in this case, as in all other domains of life, is the bench mark for justice and fairness. Just to quote one example from many to show how the prophet of Allah (saw) would react to accountability and criticism by his companions, the Sahaba (ra). In the battle of Badr, when the Prophet (saw) was straightening the ranks of the Muslim army, he was walking in front of them with a wooden stick in his hand. Sawwad bin Ghuzzaiya, one of the Sahaba was a step ahead of the others and so the Prophet (saw) pushed him in his stomach with the wooden stick. Upon this Sawwad (ra) said, “Oh Messenger of Allah, you have hurt me and I want to get even with you”. Just imagine the other Sahaba hearing that someone wants to get even with the Prophet of Allah! But the Prophet very calmly said, “Go ahead and he uncovered his stomach”. Sawwad (ra) jumped on the Prophet, hugged him and kissed his stomach. The Prophet asked Sawwad (ra) “Oh Sawwad, why did you do that?” He replied, “You see what we are going to face, and this might be the last day in my life and so I wanted the last moments in my life to be my skin touching yours”.

2. The second point is that when we compare the situation today with the one which prevailed under dictators like Saddam or still prevails under the Arab Monarchies, how can we forget the very fact that these monarchies were/are in reality the puppet regimes of the Western colonialists, be it the British or the Americans? This means that all the cruelties carried out by the dictators were at least sanctioned by their Western masters and therefore they share the blame equally.

3. The third and foremost point that needs to be understood is the deceitful cleverness which this Western capitalist system employs. It robs its subjects from their land, resources, lives, honor and deen, but still manages that they cherish the ‘freedom of expression’ which they are left with! What is the point in having the right to express all your anger, even if it is with throwing shoes at the spearhead of who brought all this evil, when you are not left with any other choice and are not able to resist their occupation and domination? All the widows and orphans of Iraq, the inmates of Abu Gharib, the young and old bereaved of their family members have the right to cry, lament and wail, so should we be cherishing that as well?

Such incidents show the deceptive but influential nature of western propaganda. It is imperative that Muslims do not allow the ‘wool to cover their eyes’ such that they become easy prey. Rather deeper scrutiny of these events, linked to the wider political landscape need to be benchmarked and evaluated within the framework of Islam.

Likewise, Muslims should feel a sense of shame – that given the all the armies, weapons, and resources that we have at our disposal, all we can muster is admiration for a shoe-thrower. This speaks volumes about the impotence and treachery of the rulers that blot the Muslim lands.
Muhammad (saw) said, ‘Every traitor will have a flag on the Last Day. And his flag will be raised according to his level of treachery. The traitor of traitors is the ruler who betrays his people.’

Found this piece while searching for more insights to the recent Mumbai attacks and India’s blame game against Pakistan.

Source: IslamPerspective

I am writing this post in response to the scores of columns, editorials and op-eds which appeared in dailies across Pakistan regarding the recent attacks in Mumbai. While there were very few which tried to analyze the events and go beyond the Indian account of things, most of our writers were quick to pass judgments on supposed Pakistani involvement and sentence the perpetrators of those attacks. Frankly, while reading through all those articles, I too started feeling as if this is a closed chapter and the only thing left was to handcuff Pakistan, accept responsibility and hand out punishments to those Pakistanis who were involved and/or instigated the attacks. Externally, it was logical for countries to discuss whether the punishment should be in form of a fully fledged war or a surgical strike on Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities. In all this jingoistic mantra spelled out by the Indian media and embraced by their Pakistani counterparts, it was difficult to hold on for a second and think about the correctness and fairness of this hastily executed media trial where once again Islam was the scapegoat. But the absence of objectivity that was critically required by the media, during such emotive and politically sensitive events, didn’t allow me to go with the flow. I asked myself simple questions which I would like to share with you, but before that let me state a few facts.

All what we know about Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks stems from either Indian media or Indian officials. No objective evidence has been brought to daylight and neither will this happen, least in the name of National Security. Pakistan and India are arch-enemies and have already fought 3 wars against each other. India has a history of inciting anti-Muslim feelings, Babri Mosque, Gujrat carnage and the Samjhota bombing are just a few to mention. Similarly, India has also a history of prematurely blaming Pakistan when attacked internally, only to be proven wrong afterwards. The recent bombing of the Malegon and Samjhota express are proof for this. It is also noteworthy that Hindu extremists, those responsible for the Babri mosque demolition, Gujrat carnage and involved in the Malegon and Samjhota express bombing, form India’s main stream political party, which was in power before the current regime and as its election year, it can’t be ruled out that they are behind the recent events. Indian army’s serving Colonel is one of the prime suspects in the Malegon bombing case with known ties with Hindu extremist groups. Also, three of the very first and most mysterious casualties of the Mumbai attacks were three police officers, Hemant Karkare, DIG Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, who were investigating the serving Colonel’s involvement in the Malegon bombing. To cut a long story short, the whole event is surrounded by lots of mysteries and open questions.

Having all this in mind, let me now come to the questions which I asked myself and I think every responsible Pakistani journalist should ask himself as well, before attempting to write on this issue.

1. Allah (swt) says in the Quran, “O you who believe! If a fasiq (liar – evil person) brings you a news, verify it, lest you harm some people in ignorance and afterward repent of what you did” [TMQ 49:6]. Shouldn’t we have dealt more skeptically and carefully with the information coming from the mouths of the mushrikeen, not just fasiqeen?

2. As both countries are arch-enemies, how can the evidence provided by one be accepted by the other without verifying it objectively? I recall reading that in the time of Ali (ra) as the Khalifah of the Muslims, he had seen a Jew steal his saddle. Ali (ra) upon catching that person took him to the court and narrated the account to the Judge (Qadhi), who rejected this as credible evidence because it was coming from the plaintiff i.e. Ali (ra)!

3. It is widely known and accepted from numerous declassified reports and former agent’s accounts that intelligence agencies launch ‘false flag’ operations in order to achieve strategic objectives, even killing their own people. Therefore, why is it that mainstream Pakistani media didn’t even bother to consider this as one explanation of the attacks, let alone a plausible one given the predictions in India that the rightwing forces will take advantage of the Mumbai tragedy in the forthcoming election. Interestingly, some Western analysts, like Wayne Madsen, a Washington DC-based investigative journalist, author and syndicated columnist, have pointed this out in context of a false flag operation, but almost none in our mainstream media did.

4. It is well known that all the evidence brought forward against Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 (and against Iraq for possessing WMD) would not have been sufficient to indict even a thief in US courts. Same is the case with the Mumbai attacks, why is it then that we are readily accepting the Indian version of the story?

5. Even if the individuals who carried out the attacks were Muslims, this does not exonerate Indian and other intelligence agencies entirely. We have to realize that many militant groups are easy to infiltrate and motivate as they rely heavily on money – other forces can direct them for specific actions. This is what can be one explanation of 9/11 in America, where there is credible evidence that the US allowed that to happen in order to project US foreign policy. Even many non-Muslim thinkers and websites have highlighted this issue, with associated evidences. It is well known that a group to whom George Bush belongs to, called PNAC (Project for the New American Century), had been lobbying Clinton to invade Iraq since 1998 and they said on their website that America needs a catastrophic event like Pearl Harbour to project American foreign policy.

6. Whilst there is thick cloud of suspicion over the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, there seems to be clear sky as to who has benefited and who will suffer from the attacks, but this too has not been the focus of our writers. If one was to consider the impact of those attacks, they can be summarized as
a. More pressure on Pakistan from the US and the International community and opportunity to repeat their notorious command to ‘do more’.
b. More pressure on the Muslims of India and an excuse to suppress their rights further and leave them even more helpless in case of another Gujrat like carnage in the face of rising Hindu extremism.
c. More pressure on Muslims residing in UK – though the UK link was dismissed at an early point, nonetheless it can be used as further ‘proof’ to squeeze the Muslim community – already dealing with 7/7 and a host of legislation targeting them – through more draconian legislation curtailing their legitimate rights of practicing Islam and self-expression.

7. Last but not least, there is no justification for blaming Islam – which is well known for its stance on innocent civilians – as a result of the actions of a few individuals. If one would just keep in mind what the Quran and Sunnah say about the sanctity of an innocent person’s life, it would be impossible to equate Islam with terror, something which has become commonplace today. Why don’t our columnists turn the tables and blame the non-implementation of Islam – in which the colonialists, both former and current surely have a big role to play – for such unfortunate events?

It seems that the age old principle of ‘innocent unless proven guilty’ has been reversed since 9/11 when it comes to Muslims. At least Muslims writers should not follow this inhumane, immoral and unethical practice of demonizing fellow brethren and Islam.

Source: Cagedprisoners

The reports read like a diary of his years of incarceration.

Omar Khadr the stubborn teenager. Confused. Depressed. Angry.

From the mundane complaints about tasteless food and shoes that don’t fit, to the days when he fears he’s going completely blind. He has read The Life of Pi. He loves To Kill a Mockingbird. He’s learning French and yoga.

Recently a piece of shrapnel was finally was ejected from his body six years after it was embedded there, bursting through the skin near his eye.

At one point Khadr tells his Canadian visitor he wants to see his interrogators again because they gave him magazines and crayons. Then in a visit later, shouts, “Six years I’ve been here. I’ve lost my childhood. What else do they want from me?”

No one knows really who 22-year-old Khadr is today. Journalists are denied access to him and an independent psychiatrist who is expected to assess Khadr before his trial has yet to meet with him.

But snippets of Khadr’s life over the past two years are found in the reports written by Canadian Foreign Affairs officials who have conducted what the Pentagon calls “welfare visits.” Khadr’s Canadian lawyers recently made those reports public as part of their lawsuit against the federal government.

When Khadr was last seen publicly he was 15 years old. Now he’s 22, 6’1″, about 185 pounds with a 10 ½ shoe size.

July 2006

Still a teenager, Khadr’s incarceration in 2006 and 2007 was some of the worst he faced. Isolated in Camps 5 and 6, his lawyers worried he was suicidal. Khadr was allowed out of his cell only rarely, and “recreation” meant being put alone in another cell just outside the prison where he could see the sky. He complained he was often taken there at night.

“He would like to see his interrogators again because they give him books, magazines, crayons, movies etc.,” writes Canadian official Nancy Collins after her visit. “Omar feels that there is a risk meeting with the interrogators however because they can exploit information they get from him. The interrogators are the only ones that can help him out or make things happen according to Omar.”

It’s clear during this time that Omar does not cooperate with his captors and “feels the guards hate him.”

November 2007

By 2007, Khadr had been moved to Guantanamo’s “Camp 4″ for “highly compliant” prisoners. The difference between this area of the prison and Camps 5 and 6 are stark. Camp 4 detainees wear white uniforms and live, pray and exercise together. They are movies that are shown and detainees can have access to books other than the Qur’an. Canadian officials bring Khadr books but first they have to be approved by the prison censors. Attempts to give him crossword puzzles or Sudoku were rejected as they “could be used for code-making,” Canadian official Sabine Nolke wrote, presumably quoting a U.S. official.

Khadr seems to be a voracious reader despite only having a Grade 8 education.

“He has apparently gone off car magazines somewhat and instead would prefer ones that would ‘teach me something’ such as science and nature magazines,” writes Nolke.

“He would like his eventual teacher to provide a ‘time table’ so that he can be disciplined about doing his work, ‘otherwise I sometimes get lazy.’ “

Khadr was happy when Hurricane Noel hit Cuba that year because it meant officials had to remove the green mesh that surrounds the prison, giving him a glimpse of the world outside.

“He likes observing the birds and iguanas that sometimes come into the camp and said it was ‘great’ when the green screens had to be taken off the perimeter fences during Hurricane Noel,” the report states.

March 2008

Earlier this year Khadr was still in Camp 4, and Suneeta Millington, another lawyer from the Foreign Affairs Department’s Human Rights and Humanitarian Law section, had taken over the role of visiting him.

“Through the solid rapport which we quickly developed, I had the opportunity to observe a likeable, funny and intelligent young man,” Millington wrote.

“(He) demonstrated no bitterness or anger, emphasizing instead a desire to move forward in life.”

Millington said Khadr wasn’t keen to call his family in Canada and noted how the U.S. soldiers that were part of the Joint Task Force (JTF) at Guantanamo seemed to like him.

“JTF staff seems to look out for him by stopping by to chat on occasion, convincing him to meet with his lawyers and encouraging him to ‘keep his nose clean,’ ” she wrote.

Khadr had asked for more books and pens so he could write again.

“(Khadr) would like to pen a comparative study on how different cultures deal with elements of life such as birth, death, marriage, education, divorce and festivals etc.; the impetus for the idea stemming from the sadness and sympathy he felt towards one of the guards who had gone through a divorce.”

June 2008

This summer Khadr appeared to be losing hope that he would be released and was moody when Millington first saw him. He refused to meet with his military lawyers.

“At the outset of our first visit, Omar expressed frustration and gloominess, bursting out at one point, ’6 years I’ve been here. I’ve lost my childhood. What else do they want from me?’ “

But as the week progressed he began talking again with Millington about reading and writing. He had read “Life of Pi,” and John Grisham’s “The Runaway Jury.” The copy of “Guantanamo’s Child,” a book written about his case, that a Canadian official had brought to him earlier that year still had not made it past the censors. “Omar expressed understanding that this book might not be given to him, but wanted to be told this if it was indeed the case, so that he would not be anticipating it,” Millington wrote.

Although most media is kept from Guantanamo prisoners, news had reached Khadr about the attention his case was starting to get in Canada.

“Omar was, however, particularly affected by the advocacy of the school group calling themselves ‘Kids for Khadr,’ seeking assistance in obtaining their address so that he can write them a letter, and indicating on several occasions how profoundly touched he was by their actions.”

Organisations like CagedPrisoners should be promoted and pushed to front page news all over the world. They’r one of the few that are giving our imprisoned brothers & sisters a voice & exposing the world to the news that media overlook, news that exposes the double standards of these so called 1st world countries.

On Saturday 27 September 2008, 46 year old Saudi Arabian citizen Khalid Al-Fawwaz completed his tenth year in prison without trial, whilst he fights extradition to the US on allegations of terrorism.

Khalid Al-Fawwaz arrived in the UK in 1994 with his family and was granted political asylum shortly afterwards for his activities against the Saudi regime. He settled in North London and ran the Advice and Reformation Committee (ARC), a non-violent political organisation advocating reform in Saudi Arabia. Throughout the mid-1990s the ARC was known all over the world for its weekly fax communiqués criticising political, economic and human rights deterioration in Saudi Arabia.

The ARC was said to have been close to Usama Bin Laden and Khalid Al-Fawwaz was said to have arranged several media interviews with Bin Laden for Western journalists in the 1990s. Some media reports even labelled him as “Bin Laden’s de facto ambassador in the West.” Whilst Al-Fawwaz has never denied knowing Bin Laden, there is no evidence to suggest that there was anything illegal or criminal in his relationship with him.

On 7 August 1998, two US embassies were destroyed by truck bombs in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania. Six weeks later, on 22 September 1998, Khalid Al-Fawwaz was arrested at his London home by British police under terrorism legislation. Five days later, he was released without charge after the police found insufficient evidence to link him either to the East Africa bombings or to any other terrorist or criminal activity.

Nine hours after he arrived back home on 27 September 1998, officers from Scotland Yard’s Extradition Squad arrested him on his doorstep pursuant to an extradition request from the US. The US extradition warrant accused him of involvement in a “worldwide conspiracy with persons unknown to wage ‘jihad’ against the USA.” He has been detained in prison ever since. He has no family in the UK.

In December 2001, the House of Lords ruled that there was no legal obstacle to prevent his extradition and sent his case to the Home Secretary for the final decision. Six years later, in March 2008, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith signed documents ordering his extradition. He is currently appealing against that decision.

If extradited to the US, he faces the possibility of ending up in Guantanamo Bay with one of his co-accused, Khalfan Khamis Mohammed, who is already there. If he ends up on the US mainland, he faces spending the rest of his natural life in solitary confinement.

Over the last ten years, media reports have described him as “using extensive legal processes to delay extradition by many years”, as if somehow the honourable thing for him to have done was to consent to his extradition so he could spend the rest of his days in Guantanamo Bay.

He has two co-accused in the UK. Adel Abdel-Bary, a 48 year old Egyptian lawyer, has been in prison since July 1999 fighting extradition. 50 year old Mr X died in London on 16 July 2008 after being released on grounds of ill-health in 2006. By then Mr. X had spent seven years in prison without trial, during which he developed the cancer that eventually killed him.

No other prisoner in the modern history of Britain, not even during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, has been detained without trial for as long as Khalid Al-Fawwaz. No other modern Western democracy, not even the USA, detains people for 10 years without trial like Britain does. Maybe the Chinese can give some tips to the British on how to cover up their human rights record before the 2012 London Olympics?

This is an account of the experience of our brother Abu Sabaya that came to New York (from a different state) just to see the condition of our sister and to tell the world who this woman is. May Allah reward our brother, free our sister (and all other Muslim prisoners); if you haven’t already, please leave a note for Sr. Aafia Siddiqui by clicking here; with the help of a brother who is in contact with her lawyer, she will be able to read your letters to her.

“I want you to come to know of the concern and dedication that this woman had for Islam as described by those who knew her – a dedication that was manifested by way of actions that were very simple and easy, yet seldom carried out by those who are able.”

“She is a high security risk.”

– Christopher LaVigne, assistant US attorney, on August 11th when trying to convince a judge to prevent Aafia from seeing a doctor for her gunshot wound

During the time of the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wassallam), those who entered Islam were of two types: those who remained in their lands with the general populace practicing the basic tenets of the religion, and those who took it upon themselves to migrate and join the Prophet in his expeditions. There are ahadith that show that the Prophet treated these two groups differently from each other due to their difference in status. For example, Muslim and at-Tirmidhi report that when appointing a leader to a battalion, he would instruct him on how to deal with those of the enemy who became Muslims, saying: “…invite them to migrate from their lands to the land of the Muhajirin, and inform them that if they do so, they will have all the privileges and obligations of the Muhajirin. If they refuse to migrate, tell them that they will have the status of the Bedouins, and will be subjected to the commands of Allah like the rest of the believers…” This distinction was simply of one group deciding to take upon its shoulders certain responsibilities in contrast to the other whose inactivity limited them to a very individualistic, localized, benign practice of Islam. One can in essence say that the Prophet divided the practice of the Muslims at the time into two types: the religion of the Migrants (Din al-Muhajirin, whose adherents took upon their shoulders the responsibilities of aiding and giving victory to Islam), and the religion of the Bedouins (Din al-A’rab, whose adherents did not go beyond the basics).

Although the depiction is of a situation that existed over a thousand years ago, it is an eternal pattern that Muslims will be distributed amongst these levels in every era and in every place. So, one can notice this distinction even amongst the practicing Muslims of the East and West. The Din al-A’rab of the past can be compared to the Islam that is limited to the five pillars, eating zabihah, and keeping the local mosque clean. Considering how difficult it is in the West to come across even these Muslims, imagine what joy comes to the eye and heart to see those who go a step further and reach the level of adhering to Din al-Muhajirin – those whose concern spans the entire Ummah, driving them to get up and become active workers for Islam, to dedicate their every minute to the service of Allah however they can no matter what other responsibilities clutter their busy lives, to have their hearts beat with the rest of the Muslims – all this with their heads raised high and paying no regard to those around them who eat and live like cattle, as it was said:

Such are the free in a world of the enslaved…

Recently, the entire world has been speaking about one such person – a short, thin college student, wife, and mother of three small children. Her name is Aafia Siddiqui.

I want you to be drawn to the story of this woman and also understand why I was drawn to it. I want you to come to know of the concern and dedication that this woman had for Islam as described by those who knew her – a dedication that was manifested by way of actions that were very simple and easy, yet seldom carried out by those who are able.

Those who knew Aafia recall that she was a very small, quiet, polite, and shy woman who was barely noticeable in a gathering. However, they add that when necessary, she would say what needed to be said. She was once giving a speech at a fundraiser for Bosnian orphans at a local mosque in which she began lambasting the men in the audience for not stepping up to do what she was doing. She would plead: “Where are the men? Why do I have to be the one standing up here and doing this work?” And she was right, as she was a mother, a wife, and a student in a community full of brothers with nothing to show when it came to Islamic work.

When she was a student at MIT, she began organizing drives to deliver copies of the Qur’an and other Islamic literature to the Muslims in the local prisons. She would have them delivered in boxes to a local mosque, and she would then show up at the mosque and carry the heavy boxes by herself all the way down the three flights of very steep stairs. Subhan Allah, look at the Qadar of Allah: this woman who would spend so much time and effort to help Muslim prisoners is now herself a prisoner (I ask Allah to free her)!

Her dedication to Islam was also very evident on campus. A 2004 article from Boston Magazine mentions that “…she wrote three guides for members who wanted to teach others about Islam. On the group’s website, Siddiqui explained how to run a daw’ah table, an informational booth used at school events to educate people about, and persuade them to convert to, Islam.” The article continues to mention that in the guides, she wrote: “Imagine our humble, but sincere daw’ah effort turning into a major daw’ah movement in this country! Just imagine it! And us, reaping the reward of everyone who accepts Islam through this movement, through years to come. Think and plan big. May Allah give this strength and sincerity to us so that our humble effort continue, and expands until America becomes a Muslim land.”

Allahu Akbar…look at this himmah (concern)…look at these lofty aspirations and goals! As men, we should be ashamed to have to learn such lessons from a sister.

She would drive out of her way every week to teach the local Muslim children on Sundays. I was told by a sister that she would also drive out of her way every week to visit a small group of reverts to teach them the basics of Islam. One of the sisters who attended her circles described Aafia as “not going out of her way to be noticed by anybody, or to be anyone’s friend. She just came out here to teach us about Allah, and English wasn’t even her first language!”

Another sister who would attend her circles describes: “She shared with us that we should never make excuses for who we are. She said: “Americans have no respect for people who are weak. Americans will respect us if we stand up and we are strong.””

Allahu Akbar…O Allah, free this woman!

But Aafia’s biggest passion was helping the oppressed Muslims around the globe. When war in Bosnia broke out, she did not sit back and watch with one knee over the other. Rather, she immediately sought out whatever means were within her grasp to make a difference. She didn’t sit in a dreamy bubble thinking all day about how she wished that she could go over to Bosnia and help with relief efforts. She got up and did what she could: she would speak to people to raise awareness, she would ask for donations, she would send e-mails, she would give slideshow presentations – the point I’m trying to make here is that Aafia showed that there is always something we can do to help our brothers and sisters, the least of which is a spoken word to raise awareness to those who are unaware. Sitting back and doing nothing is never an option. She once gave a speech at a local mosque to raise funds for Bosnian orphans, and when the audience was just sitting there watching her, she asked: “How many people in this room own more than one pair of boots?” When half the room raised their hands, she said: “So, donate them to these Bosnians who are about to face a brutal winter!” She was so effective in her plea that even the imam took off his boots and donated them!

There is much more to say about how passionate this sister was for Islam. However, the above gives you an idea of what she was like, and should hopefully serve as an inspiration for brothers before sisters to become active in serving Islam through whatever means are available. Remember that she was doing all of this while being a mother and a PhD student, and most of us do much less despite having much more free time.

So, having this image of Aafia in my mind, I was taken aback at what I saw when she was brought into court for what should have been her bail hearing. The door on the front left side of the courtroom was slowly opened to reveal a frail, limp, exhausted woman who could barely hold her own head up straight in a pale blue wheelchair. She was dressed in a Guantanamo-style orange prison uniform, and her frail head was wrapped in a white hijab that was pulled down to cover her bone-thin arms (the prison uniform is short sleeved). Her lawyers quickly sat around her, and the hearing began.

The head prosecutor, assistant US attorney Christopher LaVigne, walked in with a group of three or four FBI agents, one of whom was a female who looked Pakistani (may Allah’s curse be upon them). The defense began by announcing that the bail hearing was to be postponed because of Aafia’s medical condition. Essentially, Aafia’s lawyers reasoned that there was no point of her being out on bail if she was near death. So, they demanded that she be allowed a doctor’s visit before anything else. LaVigne got up and objected, saying that Aafia was a risk to the security of the United States. The judge didn’t seem to buy that, and the prosecutor continued arguing that “this is a woman who attempted to blast her way out of captivity.” As soon as this was said, I looked over and noticed Aafia shaking her head in desperation and sadness, as if she felt that the whole world was against her. By the way, Aafia was so small and weak that I could barely see her from behind the wheelchair. All I could see was her head slumped over to the left and wrapped in the hijab, and her right arm sticking out.

I got a better understanding of why she was so sad and desperate when her lawyer began listing details of her condition:

* She now has brain damage from her time in US custody
* One of her kidneys was removed while in US custody
* She is unable to digest her food since part of her intestines was removed during surgery while in US custody
* She has layers and layers of sewed up skin from the surgery for the gunshot wound
* She has a large surgical scar from her chest area all the way down to her torso

With all of this, she had not been visited by a single doctor the entire time of her incarceration in the US despite being in constant incredible abdominal pain following her sloppy surgery in Afghanistan – pain for which she was being given nothing more than Ibuprofen! Ibuprofen is purchased over the counter to treat headaches!

With all of this, the prosecutor had the audacity and shamelessness to try to prevent her from being seen by a doctor due to her being a “security risk.” When he was pressed by the judge as to why Aafia was sitting all this time in a NYC prison without basic medical care, the government attorney stuttered, said that it was “a complicated situation,” and capped it with the expected cheap shot that “it was her decision as she refused to by seen by a male doctor.” As soon as the prosecutor said that last bit, I saw Aafia’s thin arm shoot up and shake back and forth to the judge (as if to say ‘No! He’s lying!’). I felt so sorry for her, as she was obviously quite frustrated at the lies being spilled out before her very eyes. Her lawyer then put her hand on her arm and began stroking it to comfort her and calm her down.

When the hearing was over, one scholarly statement stuck in my mind, and it is where Ibn al-Qayyim said that a person rises in his closeness to Allah until: “…there remains only one obstacle from which the enemy calls him from, and this is an obstacle that he must face. If anyone were to be saved from this obstacle, it would have been the Messengers and Prophets of Allah, and the noblest of His Creation. This is the obstacle of Satan unleashing his troops upon the believer with various types of harm: by way of the hand, the tongue, and the heart. This occurs in accordance with the degree of goodness that exists within the believer. So, the higher he is in degree, the more the enemy unleashes his troops and helps them against him, and overwhelms him with his followers and allies in various ways. There is no way around this obstacle, because the firmer he is in calling to Allah and fulfilling His commands, the more the enemy becomes intent upon deceiving him with foolish people. So, he has essentially put on his body armor in this obstacle, and has taken it upon himself to confront the enemy for Allah’s Sake and in His Name, and his worship in doing so is the worship of the best of worshippers.”

And this was absolutely clear that day when looking at the scene in the court. Despite Aafia’s apparent physical weakness and frailty, there was a certain ‘izzah (honor) and strength that I felt emanating from her the entire time. Everything from the way she forcefully shook her hand at the judge when the prosecutor would lie, to how she was keen to wear her hijab on top of her prison garments despite horrible circumstances that would make hijab the last thing on most people’s minds, to the number of FBI agents, US Marshals, reporters, officials, etc. who were all stuffed in this small room to observe this frail, weak, short, quiet, female “security risk” – everything pointed to the conclusion that the only thing all of these people were afraid of was the strength of this sister’s iman.

This is the situation of our dear sister, a Muslim woman in captivity…

What can I say…?

I will not close by mentioning the obligation of helping to free Muslim prisoners. I will not mention how al-Mu’tasim razed an entire city to the ground to rescue a single Muslim woman. I will not go back to the days of Salah ad-Din or ‘Umar bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz, who rescued Muslim prisoners in the tens of thousands. I cannot be greedy enough to mention these things at this point because what is even sadder than what is happening to Aafia Siddiqui is how few the Muslims were who even bothered to show up to her hearing in a city of around half a million Muslims (not counting the surrounding areas), and that not a single Muslim organization in the United States has taken up the sister’s cause or even spoken a word in her defense, and as Ibn al-Qayyim said: “If ghayrah (protective jealousy) leaves a person’s heart, his faith will follow it.”

Unfortunately, in a time where most of us are following Din al-A’rab, it seems that the best person to teach us a lesson in how to help Aafia Siddiqui would have been Aafia herself.

Wallahul Musta’aan

Source

A poem for the caged prisoners of the world:

For:

The Guantanamo Bay
Detainees who, I pray,
Will stay on the straight path
And never dismay

Of God’s reward on the Last Day

The Last Third of the Night

Curled on my side
Cheek soft on my pillow
I listen, wide-eyed,
To the crickets chirping
Constant, ceaseless, unending

So unaffected by my heart-rending
Thoughts that are
Constant, ceaseless, unending

On his back, he lays
On a hard board
Listening to the waves
Rush in roaring
Constant, ceaseless, unending

So removed, uncomprehending
Of his heartbeats that are
Constant, ceaseless, unending

I rise from bed
Fixing my mind
On a kind of relief
That will ease my plight.
It is, I know, the last third of the night

Unknown to him,
The sun has risen
Over his prison.
Grim, he gazes at the walls,
So hard, impenetrable, so deaf to his calls

Alone, I stand,
Raise my empty hands,
Fold them across my chest
Over my heart’s distress
So constant, ceaseless, unending

With nothing to his name,
His heart’s all aflame,
Filled with hopelessness.
The worst, though, is his loneliness
So constant, ceaseless, unending

I whisper words so soft,
Melodious and sweet
Of divine guidance,
So comforting, complete
And constant, ceaseless, unending

He sits up sharply. Tense,
Face flushed with fear
Ears pricked to the shouts
And the thumps as they jeer
Constant, ceaseless, unending

I place my forehead
Gently against the cool floor:
O God, bless him I implore,
On him, your mercy, pour
Constant, ceaseless, unending

Enclosed upon, roughly grabbed
Beaten, thrown down
Body hits cold ground
They pound his face
Constant, ceaseless, unending

I turn my head, ending my prayer
Peace, creatures of light,
Ease replaces my despair:
They heard my calls; they care:
It is, after all,
The last third of the night

Shaken, heart and hands grope
The bloodied walls—still unmoved—
Retching, needing a way to cope
Humiliated, crying without hope.
No answer: just the waves
Unchanging, unaffected, removed

***

But then, at the Final Blast,
When all that’s penned has passed
All walls crumble to the floor
The crickets chirp no more
The hearts beat their last
The waves stop their roar

Then it will begin again.
This time, dear soul,
You will know
The sea heard your dismay
The walls did feel your plight
They will convey your suffering
Wrongs will be set aright
Angelic creatures of light
Will comfort you that Day
On your way to the Garden

But just so you know
Dear soul,
I too heard your calls
Feeling the pain you incurred,
And so, undeterred

I prayed for you,
Dear soul,
The last third of every night

By Marryam Haleem

What It Feels Like… To Be a Prison Guard at Guantánamo Bay
By Christopher Arendt, 24, Student

from Caged Prisoners

I liked working night shifts, because whenever they were awake, I wanted to apologize to them. When they were sleeping, I didn’t have to worry about that. I could just walk up and down the blocks all night long.

There was usually one detainee who would lead the call to prayer at five in the morning. That person was in the very last cell. The detainees, they sang beautifully. It was so eerie to hear, because it was such a beautiful song, and to hear forty-eight detainees just get up in the morning and, in unison, sing this gorgeous song that I could never understand — because Arabic is way out of my range of possibility — it was really intense.

Camp Delta is on a cliff that overlooks the ocean. I had never been to the ocean before in my whole life. There have been a few times in the military when I’ve been so stricken by the juxtaposition of how awful what is happening inside the moment is, and how aesthetically beautiful it is at the same time. Seeing the first couple detainees start preparing for prayer, and then at the same time the sun starting to come up over this cliff base — that was probably one of the most confusing moments of my life.

Every day you walked down the blocks, forty-eight people in two rows of twenty-four cells, and you have no idea what any of them are there for. They’re just sitting in their cells. You give them food, and if they get crazy, you spray them with this terrible oil-based chemical. Then you send these five guys in to beat the shit out of them.

I grew up in Charlotte, Michigan. This was the first time that I ever met any Muslim person before in my life. My family lived in a trailer in a cornfield on a dirt road. I enlisted when I was seventeen, on November 20, 2001. Oh, my God, I met a lot of new people by enlisting.

I had bought two pornos before I left for Cuba, and I had no idea that I would get so depressed that those wouldn’t even interest me. I ended up cutting them up, and I put the remnants of the pornos all over my wall. I made a wallpaper on my half of the room of all these like really grotesque pornographic photos. My mom had sent me a packet of dinosaur stickers, so all of the particularly obscene shots I covered with dinosaurs, and I would just sit and stare at that for a long time.

During the span of a few months, I worked maybe half the time on the blocks. It wasn’t a whole lot of time, but it was really starting to break me down. I couldn’t deal with it. I tied a 550 cord to the ceiling fan that was in my room and I tried to hang myself, but I ripped the fan out of the ceiling. I’ve never been happier about poor construction. That was about two months before we went home.

One thing I miss is the cups. The detainees were only allowed to have Styrofoam cups, and they would write and draw all over them. I’m not totally familiar with Muslim culture, but I did learn that they don’t draw the human form, and I’m not positive if they draw any creature, but they draw a lot of flowers. They would cover the things with flowers. Then we would have to take them. It was a ridiculous process. We would take the cups — as if they were writing some kind of secret message that they were somehow going to throw into the ocean, that would get back to somebody — and send them to our military intelligence. They would just look at these things and then throw them away. I used to love those little cups.

– As told to Lily Percy