Archive for category Islam: The Universal Message of Peace

Beloved Muslims Don’t Let Mischief Mongers Hijack Isq-i-Rasul (صلى الله عليه وسلم‎)

Protest

We love Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم‎), we follow his Seerat

In the battle of Pen (after the blasphemous movie), kindly, go to Newsweek’s Face Book site, (before they lock it) and register your outrage at the blasphemy.

“Whoever among you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand [by taking action]; if he cannot, then with his tongue [by speaking out]; and if he cannot, then with his heart [by hating it and feeling that it is wrong] – and that is the weakest of faith” (Narrated by Muslim, 49)

Please Act Now:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151215164076101&set=a.10150872095581101.464534.18343191100&type=1

Today, almost whole of Muslim world feels saddened by a cycle of action and reaction of hate speech/movie spread by a handful of mischief mongers. Please use the attached, as possible background material, to get a rational discussion going. As you know, many American have little knowledge of the reverence and respect, the Founding Fathers of US held our Beloved Nabi-i-Karim (صلى الله عليه وسلم‎ ).

Kindly, read the Schenck Case, where, incendiary speech is considered abridged in the Right of Free Speech given in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The Case

The Schenck case

Holmes, writing for a unanimous Court, ruled that it was a violation of the Espionage Act of 1917, (amended with the Sedition Act of 1918), to distribute flyers opposing the draft during World War I. Holmes argued this abridgment of free speech was permissible because it presented a “clear and present danger” to the government’s recruitment efforts for the war. Holmes wrote:

The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. […] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.

Holmes wrote of falsely shouting fire, because, of course, if there were a fire in a crowded theater, one may rightly indeed shout “Fire!”; one may, depending on the law in operation, even be obliged to. Falsely shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater, i.e. shouting “Fire!” when one believes there to be no fire in order to cause panic, was interpreted not to be protected by the First Amendment.

The First Amendment holding in Schenck was later overturned by Brandenburg v. Ohio in 1969, which limited the scope of banned speech to that which would be directed to and likely to incite imminent lawless action (e.g. a riot). The test in Brandenburg is the current High Court jurisprudence on the ability of government to proscribe speech after that fact. Despite Schenck being limited, the phrase “shouting fire in a crowded theater” has since come to be known as synonymous with an action that the speaker believes goes beyond the rights guaranteed by free speech, reckless or malicious speech, or an action whose outcomes are blatantly obvious.

US Supreme Court Building

Also please note that the US Supreme Court Building has the name of Nabi-i-Karim (PBUH), and his sculpture  (the sculptor being a Christian did not know that depicting Nabi-i-Karim (SAW) is considered idolatrous in Islam). This is what is written:

The United States Supreme Court honors Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, as a source of law and justice alongside Moses, Solomon, and Confucius. He is depicted in the Courtroom Frieze among the great law-givers of mankind.

Muslims understand that depictions of the Prophet are unlawful. However, in this case, this depiction created by a non-Muslim was done with the intention of honoring Islam and making the statement that Islam is an important part of American life and history. From the Supreme Court’s website:

The Prophet of Islam. He is depicted holding the Qur’an. The Qur’an provides the primary source of Islamic Law. Prophet Muhammad’s teachings explain and implement Qur’anic principles. The figure above is a well-intentioned attempt by the sculptor, Adolph Weinman, to honor Muhammad(PBUH) and it bears no resemblance to Muhammad(PBUH). Muslims generally have a strong aversion to sculptured or pictured representations of their Prophet.

At this critical time in America’s relationship with the Muslim world, it is important to recognize this work of art as a symbol of the friendship America’s founding fathers had with Islam, as reflected in the Treaty of Friendship, one of the earliest treaties between the United States and a Muslim country, Morocco:

This is a Treaty of Peace and Friendship established between us and the United States of America, which is confirmed, and which we have ordered to be written in this Book and sealed with our Royal Seal at our Court of Morocco on the twenty fifth day of the blessed Month of Shaban, in the Year One thousand two hundred, trusting in God it will remain permanent…

Let’s protest with our pens according to the tenets our Deen, the Message of Peace!

In the battle of Pen (after the blasphemous movie), kindly, go to Newsweek’s Face Book site, (before they lock it)

[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151215164076101&set=a.10150872095581101.464534.18343191100&type=1]

and express your feelings about the freedom of expression versus incendiary speech. This is our peaceful way to show our Isq-i-Rasul to those who demonize our Deen. Even one line is enough. It will take 1 minute to write.

 A cleric who handed over a young Christian girl to police on blasphemy charges after she burned papers containing Quranic verses said Friday what she did was a “conspiracy” to insult Muslims. Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the imam of the mosque in the Islamabad suburb of Mehrabad, insisted he had saved the girl, Rimsha, from mob violence by handing her to police but said the incident arose because Muslims had not stopped local Christians’ “anti-Islam activities” earlier. Rimsha was arrested and remanded in custody for a fortnight last Thursday after being accused of burning pages from a children’s religious instruction book, which were inscribed with verses from the Muslim holy text. The youngster reportedly has Down’s Syndrome and her treatment has prompted outrage from rights groups and concern from Western governments, but Chishti insisted she was fully aware of what she was doing. “The girl who burnt the Holy Quran has no mental illness and is a normal girl,” Chishti told AFP. “She did it knowingly, this is a conspiracy and not a mistake. She confessed what she did.” Chishti claimed the local Christian community had previously caused antagonism by playing music in services at their makeshift church during Muslim prayer time and said burning the pages was deliberate. “They committed this crime to insult us further. This happened because we did not stop their anti-Islam activities before,” he said. “Last Christmas, they played musical instruments and there was vulgarity in the streets during our prayers time. I warned them but they did not stop.” During his sermon at Friday prayers Chishti told worshippers it was “time for Muslims to wake up” and protect the Holy Quran. Mehrabad is home to around 500 Christian families but many fled after the page-burning, fearing a repeat of a 2009 incident in Gojra, in which young Muslim radicals burned Christian houses, killing seven, after a rumour that a page from the Holy Quran had been desecrated during a wedding. REFERENCE: Imam accuses Christian girl of ‘conspiracy’ By AFP Published: August 24, 2012 http://tribune.com.pk/story/425690/imam-claims-he-saved-blasphemy-accused-christian-girl-from-violence/

Sunni Tehreek demolishes Masjid & Commit Blasphemy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXPqqJeNFWw

2012 US government website Usaspending.gov shows the Sunni Ittehad Council receiving $36,607 from Washington in 2009. US aided Pakistan group which supported Extremists  ISLAMABAD: The US gave money to a Pakistani Muslim group that organised anti-Taliban rallies, but which later demonstrated in support of an extremist who killed a leading liberal politician, the US Embassy in Pakistan said Wednesday. US government website Usaspending.gov shows that the group, the Sunni Ittehad Council, received $36,607 from Washington in 2009. A US diplomat said that the embassy had given money to the group to organise the rallies, but that it had since changed direction and leadership. He said it was a one-off grant, and wouldn’t be repeated. He didn’t give his name because he wasn’t authorised to speak about the issue on the record. The grant was first reported by the Council of Foreign Relations on its website. The Ittehad council was formed in 2009 to counter extremism. It groups politicians and clerics from Pakistan’s traditionalist Barelvi Muslim movement, often referred to as theological moderates in the Pakistani context. The American money was used to organise nationwide rallies against militants and suicide bombings, the embassy official said. The demonstrations received widespread media coverage, and were some of the first against extremism in the country. The rhetoric at the rallies was mostly focused on opposing militant attacks on shrines, which Barelvis frequent but are opposed by Deobandi Muslims, Pakistan’s other main Muslim sect. In 2011 and also this month, however, the council led demonstrations in support of the killer of Salman Taseer, a governor who was killed a year ago for his criticism of anti-blasphemy laws. The displays have appalled Pakistani liberals and stoked international fears that the country is buckling under the weight of extremism. Taseer’s assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, is a Barelvi. He claimed he acted to defend the honour of Prophet Mohammed. At its rallies, the group maintains its criticism of the Taliban even as it supports Qadri — a seemingly contradictory stance that suggests its leaders may be more interested in harnessing the political support and street power of Barelvis than in genuinely countering militancy. Two leading members of the council who have been with the group from the beginning of its existence denied receiving any American funds. The apparent discrepancy could be explained by lack of transparency within the organisation. However, given the current anti-American climate, owning up to receiving funds from the United States would invite criticism. “This propaganda is being unleashed against us because we are strongly opposed to Western democracy and American policies in the region and in the world,” said Sahibzada Fazal Karim, the head of the council, before reiterating the group’s support for Qadri. “We are against extremism, but we support Qadri because he did a right thing,” he said. REFERENCE: US aided Pakistan group which supported extremists AP | 11th January, 2012 http://dawn.com/2012/01/11/us-aided-pakistan-group-which-supported-extremists/

The US has created a new unit in Pakistan that aims to leverage such grassroots efforts by working with local moderates to counter violent extremism the first of its kind set up by an American embassy anywhere in the world, according to US officials here. The existence of the unit has never before been reported.

Rehman and other clerics attempting to challenge extremism in Pakistan recently met with US Ambassador Cameron Munter in Islamabad, though the 50-year-old Rehman says he has not yet received support from the Americans.

Okara has special significance because it is near the village of Ajmal Kasab, home of the only surviving gunman from the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai that killed over 160 people.

The US chose Pakistan as the site for its new venture because it is home to a vast network of Islamist militants who have been fighting US-led troops in neighboring Afghanistan for over a decade and have even organized attacks on American soil.

The three-person unit in the US Embassy public affairs section was established in July. It plans to work with local partners, including moderate religious leaders, to project their counter-extremist messages and push back against the militants’ extensive propaganda machine, said US officials.

ST (Sunni Tehrik – Sunni Movement) ———————————- 9. (S) ST is a small religious/political group with a presence in small pockets of Karachi. The group has only managed to win a handful of council seats in local elections but militarily it is disproportionably powerful because of the influx of MQM-H gunmen after the government crack-down on MQM-H (see above). ST has organized the party and its gunmen along the lines of MQM by dividing its areas of influence into sectors and units, with sector and unit commanders. ST and MQM have allegedly been killing each other’s leadership since the April 2006 Nishtar Park bombing that killed most of ST’s leadership. ST blames MQM for the attack. There appears to have been a reduction in these targeted killings since 2008. REFERENCE: 2009: US assessment of Karachi violence

References

 DAWN.COM | 23rd May, 2011 http://dawn.com/2011/05/23/2009-us-assessment-of-karachi-violence/

http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/near-kasabs-hometown-a-mullah-takes-on-jihadis-169387.html

Scientists snub claims of early moon sighting in Pakistan

KARACHI: August 19, 2012

It was impossible to sight the Shawwal moon in Pakistan on August 18 as the maximum duration between moonset and sunset was around 16 minutes in Karachi while this duration was even lesser in Peshawar and the adjoining areas, said Dr Muhammad Jawed Iqbal.

In-charge of Karachi University’s Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics (ISPA), Dr Iqbal explained that “for the moon to be visible, the duration between moonset and sunset must be at least 38 minutes for the naked eye and 35 minutes for a telescope.” Dr Shahid Qureshi, an expert in astronomical studies whose doctoral thesis was on the visibility of the lunar crescent, not only endorsed the above stated calculations but also termed the duration between moonset and sunset as the only authentic perimeter for moon sighting. Dr Qureshi also said that the age of the new moon, in contrast to conventional beliefs, is not related to its visibility.

“The age of the moon in fact is the most misleading criteria,” said Dr Qureshi. Explaining further, Dr Iqbal said that the moon is perceived as astronomically new when the lunar disc rotating around the earth comes in conjunction with the sun-earth line. He added that the time of conjunction can be accurately predicted but it should not be confused with the first visible crescent of the moon. “It is scientifically rare to observe a new moon through naked eyes earlier than 20 hours from the instant of conjunction,” said Dr Iqbal, adding that “the beginning of a month in lunar calendar in marked only after the visibility of new moon.”

Dr Iqbal snubbed the possibility of moon sighting on August 17 as the conjunction took place at 8:54pm Pakistan Standard Time. “The claim of moon sighting in North Waziristan Agency even before the conjunction was ridiculous and wrong,” he stated. “The moon could not be seen anywhere in the world by naked eye or even through high powered telescopes on Friday,” he added. 

Elaborating this point further, Dr Qureshi said that the earliest recorded evidence of the moon’s visibility was received from Tasmania, where it was observed by a telescope for 15 hours and 36 minutes after the conjunction, which was on August 18 at 7:30am Greenwich Mean Time. Commenting in the light of Islamic laws, Dr Qureshi said the “Shariat cannot go against the laws of nature because it was fixed by God.”

“For example, God allows us to pray facing anywhere in a situation where we have no knowledge or means to find the direction of Kaaba but the knowledge and means make it obligatory on us to determine the location for prayer,” Qureshi said, adding that the “denial of evidence based scientific knowledge on moon sighting is equal to denying both the laws of Islam and the laws of nature.” He added that even the Muslim scientist Abu Rehan alBeruni had stated around 1000 years ago that moon sighting was an issue which requires good knowledge of astronomy.

For moon to be visible, the duration between moonset and sunset must be at least 38 minutes for a naked eye. 

http://tribune.com.pk/story/424283/scientists-snub-claims-of-early-moon-sighting-in-pakistan/

The beautiful mountains of Arakan divide the state from central Burma and the beautiful plains of the state house a population of 800,000 |Rohingya Muslims who claim to be living on these shores for hundreds of years. A claim resolutely denied by the Military rulers of Burma and the Buddhist community as they believe that Rohingya population are descendants of Chittagong Bengalis and only moved to Burma in 1863. Even if the twisted version of the dictator party is accepted as correct still it has been a good 150 years since these people started living their lives in Burma. They are not considered citizens though and are not issued with passports or rights of citizenship by a government which derives its power from the Buddhist religious base. Over the last 70 years these Muslims have been given the rough end of the deal by British, Japanese and the Burmese governments resulting in a mass exodus to Bangladesh and Thailand. Situation changed dramatically when Bangladesh decided to seal her borders to these refugees as they are struggling with the sheer numbers and the thigh border guards let the ship of these refugees sink and the men and women aboard drown.

A month ago three Muslim boys were accused of raping and killing a Buddhist girl and were arrested. One of them was reported to have killed himself while other two were sentenced to death after a trial of 4 days. The Muslim version of story varies from the state version as Muslim community argues that one of the boys fell in love with the Burmese girl and managed to flee with her, later to be captured and tortured to death in custody and the other two boys were innocent. Whichever version was correct didn’t matter as the local Buddhist community attacked a bus killing 10 Muslims. Military moved in after 30 Muslims deaths and within 2 days the death toll for Rohingya Muslims raised to 680 as the military and security forces of Burma led the Muslim hunting process which is continuing with no end in sight. UN or aid agencies are not allowed in |Rakhine and media organisations are banned as well. Any food or life saving supplies can not be given directly and have to go through the government aid agency. This leaves Muslims of Arakan helpless, hopeless and in a miserable plight awaiting torture, death and destruction on daily basis.

In this heart wrenching state of affairs UAE government continues to spend billions on a football club, Saudis are celebrating the crowning of new prince, Turkey is rejoicing on its economic success, Pakistan is dealing with its political crisis, Bangladesh has ceased to invite any more refugees and Iran is fighting against UN  sanctions. Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, and other rich Arab countries are falling over each other to get in to good books of US. When the governments fail to take up a serious issue the media of those countries screams about the injustice and cruelty to make the governments act, but in this case all the major Muslim media organisations have better news and affairs to discuss and deal with.

The silence of the graveyard, where lies the corpse of Muslim ummah and their unity and brotherhood. As for Burmese Rohingya Muslims the writing is on the wall, no oil, no money, no state of their own and no monitory benefits to attract the Muslim governments and their media, so all they can do is to await the slaughter that shall come sooner or later. One resolution in UN unanimously drafted by Islamic world could do the trick by putting diplomatic pressure on militant rulers of Burma but frankly who cares and who has got the time to avert the spice of life and think about poor Muslims of Burma.

Source: saachtv

http://www.columnpk.com/muslim-massacre-in-myanmar-dr-asjad-bokhari/