By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican John McCain on Tuesday promised to apply massive diplomatic and financial pressure on Iran to try to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon if elected president.

Often accused of hawkish policies, McCain told MSNBC’s “Hardball” it would be difficult to convince the American people to go to war against Iran.

“I believe we can act with nations with values and principles that we hold dear and exercise enormous pressure — diplomatic, trade, financial,” he said.

If he decided he had to attack, McCain said he would have to make an “even more convincing argument that it was necessary to do so because of our failure to find weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq.

“There’s a little credibility gap,” he said, referring to President George W. Bush, who justified the 2003 invasion of Iraq by saying it possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Iran has been a hot topic in the presidential campaign with Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton arguing that the Iraq war allowed Iran to increase its influence in southern Iraq. They also say Iranian elements have been shipping explosives across the border to attack Americans and Iraqis.

Clinton on Tuesday called Bush’s Iran policy “a loser” and recommended low-level talks with a country the United States has labeled a sponsor of terrorism.

Speaking at a meeting of newspaper publishers, Clinton sought to strike a balance between the hawkish approach taken by the Bush administration and her Democratic rival Barack Obama’s call for face-to-face talks with the Iranian president, who denies the Holocaust and has threatened to destroy Israel.

“The approach that the Bush administration … has neither changed behaviors or produced results,” said Clinton, a former first lady who would be the first woman president.

“I’ve advocated both that carrot and that stick,” the New York senator said, She would “try to create the beginning of lower levels of diplomatic engagement, some ongoing process.”

The West accuses Iran of trying to acquire nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian program. Iran denies the charge and says it needs nuclear technology to meet electricity demand.

The United States has led international efforts to penalize Iran for failing to allay suspicions over its nuclear work.

McCain, an Arizona senator, cited published U.S. intelligence in saying that Iran appears to be close to a “tipping point” in developing the technology needed for a nuclear weapon.

He said Iran would have to be a “clear and present danger” to warrant military action and that to gain public support he would bring appropriate members of Congress to the White House for intensive consultations to show them the evidence.

The message to them would be, “I want you to be in on the takeoff as well as the landing,” he said.

(Writing by Steve Holland, editing by Alan Elsner)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters “Tales from the Trail: 2008” online at http:/blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)

10-17

Scientists & Thinkers Series

By Syed Aslam

Abu Bakr bin Zakaria ar-Razi also known in Europe as “Rhazes” was born at Rayy, Iran close to the city of Tehran, in the year 841 CE. He mastered a wide range of subjects, including science, philosophy, music, poetry, and logic. His interest in medicine started in his late thirties. He received his education in Baghdad where he practiced medicine and also served as a chief physician in the city’s hospital. Very little is known about ar-Razi’s personal life, it is believed that he was often persecuted for his open mindedness and beliefs in equality. He rejected all forms of dogma as fanaticism, and argued that religious fanaticism breeds hatred and war. He believed that the knowledge of science is a continual process which is based on the accumulation of past knowledge, an idea so advanced of his time.

Ar-Razi is regarded as Islam’s greatest physician and one of the most original thinker. He was a prolific writer, who wrote some 230 books, half of which dealt with medicine, 21 on chemistry and rest on physics, mathematics and astronomy. His books on the Diseases of Children was so authentic and original that he is regarded as the Father of Pediatrics. Ar-Razi was the first to identify hay fever and its cause. His work on kidney stones is still considered a classic. In addition, he was instrumental in the introduction of mercurial ointments to medical practice. Ar-Razi was a strong proponent of experimental medicine and the beneficial uses of previously tested drugs. After serving as a hospital director in Baghdad for sometime he returned to his home town Rayy Iran, where he continued his writing. His first major work is divided in ten parts and is called Al Kittab al Mansuri. He discussed in his book various subjects such as diets and drugs, and its effects on the human body and mental health. A useful knowledge about childcare, obstetrics, ophthalmology skin disease, general hygiene and hygiene of mouth can be found in those treatises. He was the first scientist of his time to shed light on the effect of the environment on health and the first person to write treatise on smallpox and measles and as such gave the concept of epidemiology. By his brilliant demonstration by clinical observation he proved that these two diseases are quite different from each other. He thus provided a valid guidelines for the treatment of both diseases.

Ar-Razi’s most outstanding work is medical encyclopedia consisting of twenty-five books called Al Kittab al Hawi. He spent a good part of his life collecting data from the patients he examined and tried to find a pattern for a particular disease. He summarize all the medical knowledge of his time, and his own experiences and observations to complete the medical encyclopedia, which by any account, a tremendous work in the field of medicine. He also emphasized the need for physicians to pay careful attention about the patient’s medical history which proved very useful in treating disease successfully.

The ar-Razi’s work to future physicians proved to be a gold mine. His book Al Kittab al Hawi was translated in Latin and became one of the standard medical reference works in the universities of Europe. A portion of his work were used in European medical schools well into the 19th century. In this work, ar-Razi listed medical theories for each disease and its treatment from Indian, Persian, and Arabic medicine and then he added the current ideas and his own observations and opinions. He advocated simple remedies, including dietary supplements, and warned against the dangers of harsh medicine.

Ar-Razi was familiar with a wide range of chemicals, which he used in his medical work. Like many physicians of his time, he was also actively interested in alchemy. In one of his book on alchemy he provides a great deal of practical advice on chemical manipulations. He tried to classify all known substances, dividing them basically into animal, mineral, or vegetable categories.

Ar-Razi views sometimes got him into political trouble, and on several occasions he was forced to leave his native city. Medical care in those days was a luxury available mainly for wealthy and noble families but ar-Razi treated poor patients at no charge out of compassion. Being one of the brilliant physician of his time he acquired lot of wealth but died as popper because he distributed all his fortune among the less fortunate people.

Ar-Razi was way ahead of his age and is considered as one of the leading figure in the history of Islamic thought because of his outspoken and antiauthoritarian views on religion, politics, and science. He once said that all which is written in books is worth much less than the experience of one wise doctor. The well-known writer George Sarton says in his introduction to the History of Science that ar-Razi was the greatest physician of Islam and the Medieval Ages. In 1970 World Health Organization paid tribute to him by stating that his work on smallpox and measles and his essay on infectious diseases are the first scientific treatise on this subject.

Ar-Razi’s other works include a book known in the European civilization as The Spiritual Physick of Rhazes, a combination of alchemy and ethics. Ar-Razi’s philosophical writings were much less known.

Aslamsyed@yahoo.com

10-17

By Susan Schwartz, MMNS

The Islamic Center of Hawthorne, through its youth group, hosted a second annual Al Mu’akhah Banquet — the word means brotherhood in Arabic — in Hawthorne, Ca. this past Saturday evening. The event, titled: Beyond Names and Faces, was well attended and featured Muslim youth groups from Islamic Centers throughout the Southern part of the state.

Attending groups included, but were not limited to: Culver City Girls’ Youth Group; Islamic Center of Orange County Youth Group; Al Ansar Youth Group, and the Islamic Society of Corona-Norco Youth Group.

After a brief introduction, a reading from the holy Quran followed.

The performance portion of the evening began with entertaining rap music performed by the Bengali Crown Family, a group of young men of Bangladeshi origin. Skits, video tapes and poems were presented to an enthusiastic audience. While humor was often the main ingredient of each performance. it was a humor that dealt realistically with such serious topics as Islamophobia; respect for parental authority, and the very real need to see – as the theme of the event stated – the person behind a face and a name.

A video clip on “Islamophobia”, though performed in a satirical vein, reminded the audience of the too real situation that faces Muslims in their daily life. A segment on high gasoline prices, again intended as humor, drove home the inescapable truth that materialism with respect to the ease and convenience of driving a car can negatively impact one’s spiritual life.

“This has given me something to think about when I meet someone.” said a young woman after the first half of the event.

Sheikh Yassir Fazaga from the Islamic Center in Mission Viejo addressed the audience. He urged his listeners to see the person behind the face and the name. He urged his audience not to hesitate to proclaim feelings of friendship, and to see in a non-Muslim a potential Muslim.

The evening included prayer and an excellent Middle Eastern meal.

Groups which supported the Al Mu’akhah banquet included, but were not limited to: Islamic Relief (IR); the Muslim American Society (MAS); In Focus newspaper, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

Two booths were present: the aforementioned In Focus newspaper and the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.

10-17

By Rachel Zoll, Associated Press Religion Writer

NEW YORK – Unease with Pope Benedict XVI’s approach to Islam has led a U.S. Muslim group to decline joining in an interfaith event with him later this week.

Several other U.S. Muslim leaders expressed similar concerns about the pope, but pledged to participate in the Washington gathering, saying the two faiths should do everything possible to improve relations.

“Our going there is more out of respect for the Catholic Church itself,” said Muzammil H. Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, which interprets Islamic law. “Popes come and go, but the church is there.”

Siddiqi, co-chairman of the West Coast Muslim-Catholic Dialogue, is among the Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Jain and Hindu leaders scheduled to meet Benedict on Thursday at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. Muslims and Roman Catholics each have more than 1 billion followers worldwide. U.S. Catholic and Muslim leaders started holding interfaith talks in the early 1990s, and many of the Muslim leaders invited to the event Thursday are veterans of those discussions.

But Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, said the event seemed “more ceremonial than substantive” and his organization would not participate. He said he was disappointed that no time was made in the pope’s six-day trip for even a brief private meeting with U.S. Muslim leaders.

This is the first trip to the U.S. that Benedict has made since he was elected in 2005 to succeed John Paul. He turns 81 on Wednesday.

“It would have been a good opportunity for him to have a dialogue,” al-Marayati said.

The pope has been praised by supporters for his frankness in approaching Islam and interfaith dialogue in general, but critics have called him insensitive.

Muslims in many nations reacted angrily when the pope quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor connecting Islam with violence in a 2006 speech at Germany’s Regensburg University. Tensions eased after Benedict traveled to Turkey that same year, visiting Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque.

The pope was applauded for organizing a Nov. 4-6 meeting in Rome with Muslim religious leaders and scholars, as part of a push for more dialogue between Catholics and Muslims.

But many Muslims said the pontiff insulted them on Easter Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica, when he baptized Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born commentator who has criticized what he called the “inherent” violence in Islam. Islamic leaders said the prominence of the ceremony, not the conversion itself, was troubling.

“It’s true that some of the gestures, some of the statements make us uncomfortable and we feel badly about it,” said Sayyid Syeed, national interfaith director of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest communal group for American Muslims. “But our challenge is to not let those challenges hamper progress.” Syeed will attend the meeting Thursday.

Imam Yahya Hendi, a leading advocate of interfaith dialogue and chaplain at the Jesuit-founded Georgetown University, had met John Paul and said he would participate in the interfaith gathering, because “I believe in the power of love and the power of dialogue.” Hendi will also be among the thousands of people at a ceremony for the pope Wednesday at the White House.

But Hendi said that he and other Muslims were concerned that the pope wasn’t visiting a mosque or meeting with leaders who represent the millions of Muslims living in the U.S.

“Since he came to office, things have happened that have been used on both sides to build up walls,” Hendi said. “I think this could be a good opportunity for Pope Benedict to help people to build bridges.”

American Muslims are unlike any Islamic migrant community Benedict has encountered in Europe. Many Muslims in the U.S. came for higher education and are now professionals — academics, business people, physicians and engineers — who are settled in the wealthier suburbs.

They’ve battled discrimination and intensive government scrutiny following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Yet they have also benefited from American constitutional protection for religious freedom. The U.S. Justice Department, along with civil rights groups that usually represent Jews and Christians, often help Muslims secure their religious rights in the workplace, public schools and elsewhere.

Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core based in Chicago, said that he was inspired as a boy by the interreligious outreach of the late Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.

Patel, a Muslim born in India, said he had no concerns at all about participating in the Washington gathering, even though he wished the Easter conversion hadn’t been so public.

“I think that we have to find ways to cooperate on important matters concerning the earth, including climate change, reducing disease, reducing poverty, increasing respect,” he said. “That’s where our focus should be.”

10-17

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive plumage on birds.

Feathers are among the most complex structural organs found in vertebrates: integumentary appendages, formed by controlled proliferation of cells in the epidermis, or outer skin layer, that produce keratin proteins. The β-keratins in feathers, beaks and claws—and the claws, scales and shells of reptiles—are composed of protein strands hydrogen-bonded into β-pleated sheets, which are then further twisted and crosslinked by disulfide bridges into structures even tougher than the α-keratins of mammalian hair, horns and hoof.

Feathers insulate birds from water and cold. The individual feathers in the wings and tail play important roles in controlling flight. These have their own identity and are not just randomly distributed. Some species have a crest of feathers on their heads. Although feathers are light, a bird’s plumage weighs two or three times more than its skeleton, since many bones are hollow and contain air sacs. Color patterns serve as camouflage against predators. As with fish, the top and bottom colors may be different to provide camouflage during flight. The remarkable colors and feather sizes of some species have never been fully explained.

There are two basic types of feather: vaned feathers which cover the exterior of the body, and down feathers which are underneath the vaned feathers. The pennaceous feathers are vaned feathers. Also called contour feathers, pennaceous feathers are distributed over the whole body. Some of them are modified into remiges, the flight feathers of the wing, and rectrices, the flight feathers of the tail. Down feathers are fluffy because they lack barbicels, so the barbules float free of each other, allowing the down to trap much air and provide excellent thermal insulation.

10-17

By Howard W. French

SHANGHAI — Fresh ethnic violence has erupted in a Tibetan region of southwestern China, with disputed reports of eight people shot dead by the police, and the Chinese government on Friday vowed swift and severe punishment of Tibetans accused of rioting and taking part in last month’s antigovernment protests.

Police officers on Thursday evening fired on a crowd of protesters outside government offices in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, along the Tibet border. A Tibet activist group said the shooting killed eight protesters, but other unconfirmed reports put the death toll as high as 15.

Signs of ethnic unrest in another area, in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, have also begun to emerge in recent days, with details of protests and rumored plotting by Muslim separatists in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and of police crackdowns.

China’s official Xinhua news agency confirmed the latest incident of Tibetan unrest in Sichuan Province, saying that a riot had broken out in the town of Donggu and that the “police were forced to fire warning shots to put down the violence,” citing a local official. It said a police officer was killed and a government official seriously wounded, but gave no details of other injuries or deaths.

The pro-Tibet activist group, the London-based Free Tibet Campaign, said the protests followed what the government called a patriotic education campaign, in which monks in the area were told to denounce the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. According to the Free Tibet Campaign, when Buddhist monks at the Ganzi monastery denied entry to the police, a large deployment of paramilitary forces was sent to the temple on Thursday, and two monks were arrested for possessing photographs of the Dalai Lama.

The arrests prompted a march by hundreds of monks and lay people on the government offices to demand their release, and soldiers later fired on them.

“The Donggu town authorities agreed to release the monks within a couple of hours, but when they were not released the protesters began marching toward the government offices a second time,” said Anne Holmes, a spokeswoman for the Free Tibet Campaign in London. Before they even reached there, the police opened fire on the crowd, killing at least eight people, she said.

Tibet was shaken by protests last month by Buddhist monks demanding religious freedoms. Riots followed in Lhasa, the capital, on March 14, in which shops owned by the country’s ethnic Han majority were attacked. China says 19 people were killed in the rioting and ensuing crackdown, while Tibetan exile groups say they have reports of 140 deaths. The events in Lhasa quickly brought a wave of sympathy protests in parts of several neighboring provinces where Tibetans live in large numbers.

Like Tibetans, Uighurs, who are the predominant ethnic group in Xinjiang, harbor memories of political independence and deep resentment of Chinese control, particularly over the practice of their Islamic faith.

Residents of townships and villages near Gulja, a city in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, said that about 25 Uighur Muslims were arrested last week on a tip that people in the area were making bombs. Residents said the police search had turned up three bombs in a cowshed, but the authorities were still looking for more devices that they believed were hidden in the area.

A resident of Yengiyer, a township near Gulja, speaking by telephone on Friday of the uncovering of a bomb plot, said the police tip had come after the recent arrest of a Uighur in the provincial capital, Urumqi. The police contacted in the area declined to discuss the tip. But local residents with connections to the government said the bombs were part of a conspiracy to undermine Communist rule.

“Their goal is pretty simple: They want to overthrow the rule of the Communist Party,” said Hong Xiuhua, 50, a retired local party official. “They claim that Xinjiang belongs to them and want to drive all the Han people out.” Ms. Hong said that the police were holding two couples, as well as a local baker, but that they had released some of the other initial suspects. She said that unauthorized gatherings in the region had been banned.

As in Tibet, religious freedom has been a constant source of tension in Xinjiang. The government, for example, bars students and party members from practicing Islam, and tightly controls and polices the Muslim clergy. Many Uighurs also complain of discrimination.

During a previous wave of protests in Gulja in 1997, Uighur human rights advocates say, dozens of demonstrators were killed on the spot by paramilitary forces, and many others executed later.

A Han resident of the area, a 63-year-old woman who gave her name as Huang, however, blamed leniency for the latest troubles. “If some of them are executed, then they’ll learn to be scared,” she said. “I’m talking about the Uighurs. They’re all like this.”

Reports emerged from other parts of Xinjiang suggesting mounting tensions. As protests spread across Tibetan areas to the south and east, about 500 Uighurs gathered in the city of Khotan on March 23, reportedly hoisting banners and shouting pro-independence slogans before the police moved in and arrested many of the demonstrators.

On March 18, a rumor spread through the streets of Urumqi that a Uighur woman had detonated a bomb on a city bus, escaping before its explosion. Officials have denied that account.

In the western Xinjiang city of Kashgar, a traditionally important center of Islam in the region, meanwhile, the police have arrested 70 Uighurs in recent days in a sweep aimed at securing the city before the arrival of the Olympic torch, according to Reuters.

Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the World Uighur Congress, a Germany-based exile group that seeks independence, said the authorities were using the Olympics as an excuse to crack down on the Uighurs. “One world, one dream?” Mr. Raxit said, referring to Beijing’s Olympic motto. “Is that right? The Uighurs have a different dream. We don’t want the Olympics here.”

10-16

How do you root for a candidate who doesn’t want you to root for him?

Courtesy Firas Ahmad

As Obamamania continues to capture the imagination of the United States, parts of the American Muslim community are no less overcome by the Illinois senator’s charismatic and overpowering vision for change. It makes sense. He is a man of diverse ethnic background who seeks dialogue over war, who can credibly represent change given his independence from establishment politics and whose life story suggests an intimate understanding of the Muslim world. In many ways he represents more than Muslims could have hoped for given the radioactive nature of Islam in America over the past several years. Someone who seemingly has a sympathetic ear and background that could build bridges.

But for many reasons, Muslims are one constituency Obama does not want to court. With a wink and a nod, Obama’s Muslim supporters continue to work for a candidate who cannot afford to wink back at them. Given his perceived “closeness” to Islam, and the fact that he shares a name with a former Iraqi dictator, it could be strategic suicide for the Obama campaign to vocally acknowledge organized Muslim support. At a time when endorsements are worn like badges of honor, no major candidate is looking for the Muslim vote.

No doubt if Obama wins the nomination, the Republicans will exploit this issue far more than Bill Clinton attempted to manipulate race in South Carolina. Republican presidential candidate John McCain will never have to say a word, the “hit job” will be manufactured and executed by the sympathetic folks at Fox News, via the airwaves with Rush and Hannity (who would have overcome their issues with McCain by then) and through tabloids like the New York Post. Vocal Muslim support for Obama, if it happens, will likely be used as subtext for character attacks against his background and to fuel baseless rumors that he is actually a stealth Islamist who will subvert the establishment after taking power. As Don Imus can attest, racism and bigotry against African Americans is now largely unacceptable in public discourse. However, the same cannot be said of vitriol against Muslims. Attacking Obama for his pseudo-association with Islam is a far safer and more acceptable strategy for right-wing zealots than attacking him for being black. So if Obama has a campaign strategist worth his or her weight, we will never hear any serious public support or defense of Muslims from him or his campaign. For Muslims to demand anything from him simply demonstrates a misunderstanding of reality. Muslim support for Obama is akin to George Bush’s support for democracy in the Middle East. The mere association with the former will undercut the credibility of the latter. It is an analogy that Muslims should understand.

Obama’s lack of public defense of Islam is not so much an indictment against him as it is a demonstration of the infantile state of Muslim political participation in America. While it is impossible to tell, it would be reasonable to assume that if Obama could say something nice about Muslims he would because he wants votes from any and all Americans. Muslims fit squarely into the demographic that he appeals to most. Professional, educated and young. The only reason a candidate like Obama would not say something nice about Muslims is because he is making a clear political calculation. The votes he would gain from Muslims are far less than the votes he would lose from his association with Muslims. This should be startling. Unfortunately it has not initiated the kind of discussion within the community necessary to change these political ramifications for candidates in the future. To be fair, other candidates have lost votes based on their religious affiliation. Romney, a practicing Mormon, could have had a much better shot as the Republican nominee if he were from a Protestant denomination. But in terms of public perception, Muslims are a whole other category of disrepute. We are not talking about a Muslim candidate, we are talking about supporting a candidate who denies any connection, real or perceived, to Islam.

This is a political reality that Muslims in America must face. It is a clear demonstration that the collective efforts of Muslim institution building over the last 20 years have largely failed to make any real progress when it comes to impacting the American political process, at least at the national level. Muslims have found the perfect candidate, but cannot vocally support him for fear that if they do, they may be the reason he loses. How is that for a wake-up call.

At the core of the problem is the public perception of Islam in America. While global events, and of course 9/11, play an undeniable role in shaping the image of Islam for Americans, Muslims have ignored establishing some of the most basic institutions that are necessary for any minority community who seeks to have their voice taken seriously. There are no widely circulated national publications that explain Muslim perspectives. There is no widely recognized think tank expressing Muslim understandings of policy debates. There are a scant few public intellectuals from Muslim backgrounds that articulate mainstream views or who represent general Muslim thinking. While there are a number of very talented Muslim academics, very few have been able to cross-over and achieve mainstream credibility. Every other minority community has multiple inventories in each category listed above. What Muslims have are a number of smaller efforts that lack support, lack funding and lack human resources. If Muslims have failed in all these arenas it is not for a lack of talent, but rather for a lack of collective vision.

Instead, Muslim have invested in a handful of advocacy groups that, to their credit, work extremely hard to bring a “Muslim” slant to whatever breaks in the news that day. Advocacy groups play an important part of any community, but they are not sufficient for any community to make a serious play for political clout. In fact, the degree to which Muslims are publicly represented by their advocacy is inversely related to how they will be positively perceived by the general public. Advocacy groups are inherently divisive. The African-American civil rights watchdog NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups all play important roles in American democracy, but they are also polarizing organizations. Muslims need to take the edge off the way they present themselves in the broader public discussion. While this includes important and pioneering efforts like Unity productions, which has produced excellent work in the area of documentary film, much more is needed on a number of different fronts.

Policy and political decision making in America is not decided entirely on Capitol Hill. It is decided in the complex interaction of think tanks, academic institutions, book stands, radio shows, the evening news, newspapers, editorial pages, opinion polls, Hollywood blockbusters and much more. It is the confluence and interaction of all these institutions that inform how politicians behave, not the other way around. Politicians are simply seeking votes, and votes are determined by people’s inclinations, perceptions, prejudices and perspectives. If you want to win politicians, you have to build constituencies by changing the way people think.

If Muslims do not want to suffer the indignation of political irrelevance for many elections to come, instead of giving money to politicians, they should start investing in journalism scholarships. They should establish fellowships for Muslim academics to take a year off and write a book for a general audience, and then back them up with a PR firm to get the book on a best seller list. They should invest in publications that demonstrate a breadth and depth of thinking on a range of issues. They should invest in think tanks that analyze public issues and present actual value to the overall public discussion. All of these institutions exist right now for Muslims in America. But for the most part they are underfunded, underappreciated and undervalued. Because the community in general has not rallied behind them, they are for the most part invisible. Because they are invisible, Muslims are effectively invisible when it comes to Obama or any other serious candidate.

Another real tragedy here is that the part of the Muslim community that has made significant headway in all these areas, the Blackamerican community, remains effectively marginalized from leadership roles in the larger Muslim establishment in America. Blackamerican Muslims have been civicaly, politically and socially engaged in America for centuries. The rest of the Muslim community discovered these words a few years after 9/11. If all Muslims did was change the public perception of Islam in America to identify more with Blackamerican Islam than Arab or Pakistani Islam, the community would move forward in leaps and bounds. It is no accident that the first Muslim congressman is black. Until the Muslim leadership in America begins to recognize and reflect this historical reality, progress on a number of fronts will be slow. The Middle East and the subcontinent will remain powder kegs for decades to come.

Muslims largely misunderstand the process by which minority communities in America achieve their proverbial “seat at the table.” It is not achieved through campaign donations and political posturing. It is achieved through understanding and executing on a collective vision that nurtures real, active, social, economic and political participation that improves both one’s own community and the broader community that surrounds it. It is achieved through understanding that public perception is not entirely devised by a select few, but rather it is earned through hard work and sacrifice. It is achieved when a community actually adds some value to the society from which it benefits.

There is little strategic understanding of how to develop political capital within the Muslim community in America. If there was, Obama would not have to rebuke his Muslim supporters. The proof is in the pudding. Either Muslims deal with it, or do as they have done for the last 25 years: blame the media.

FIRAS AHMAD is deputy editor of Islamica Magazine.

10-16

By Geoffrey Cook, MMNS

Berkeley–On yesterday’s news (the fifth), the report was of Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush’s “goodbye” – both their terms of office will be up soon, and this will probably be their last face-to-face meeting.

Tony Woods, the Assistant Editor of London’s New Left Review, is an expert on contemporary Russia, and is an advocate for Chechnyan independence. He came by Berkeley a little over a month ago.

Modern Chechnya, located in the North Caucus Range, began from battles between them and the Central Cossacks, Turks, Russians and Georgians.

The Chechens converted to Islam in the Sixteenth and Seventh Centuries. During this period the Russian Empire was making a steady sweep eastward, grabbing large chunks of Caucasian territory from the Ottoman Turks and the Persians. After the initial conquests, expressions of nationalism were minimal and ambivalent. During the Soviet period, 17,000 Chechens conducted a guerilla resistance for the U.S.S.R. stopping the Nazi blitzkrieg before reaching the Chechnyan borders themselves. Yet the Stalinist State deported 30% of the Chechens from their aboriginal land, and shortly after replacing them with Slavic settler colonialists. This broke down the Muslim societal clan structure, and, thus, instead of identifying with the Soviet State, nationalism arose!

After the breakdown of the Soviet Union (1989/1991), Chechnya was an independent State for three years; then Moscow decided to end their independence in 1994. This First Chechnyan War lasted until 1996. Although they fought the Russians to a standstill, the shared loss of life was somewhere between 35,000 to 100,000. A peace agreement was sculpted that gave the Muslims a limited recognition of sovereignty, but a second war broke out in 1999, a Russian response of two brutal bombings against innocent noncombatants that the Chechens themselves blamed on a false-flag operation by the Russian intelligence services.

Broken buildings still overshadow Grozny even today. 70% of the city is stationary debris. The metropolis up until now lacks utilities. 40,000 Russian soldiers alongside 8,000 pro-Russian Chechen paramilitary are still stationed within the regional Republic, yes the insurrection is far from over, with disparate guerilla resistance.

In support of a “classic” colonial counter-insurgency, the Russians have projected onto the victims the image of criminals by accusing them of a spectacular terrorist attack in Moscow. Yet munitions (largely landmines) left as waste on the battlefield by the Russian military in the Ichkeria (separatist government) have maimed children.

Although the total number of Chechens is approximately one million, tens of thousands have left the land of their birth. Therefore, this leaves 400,000 remaining residents, of which 80% are unemployed, for the war has been devastating to the economy.

Chechnya has been forced to remain with the Russian Federation. Consequently, it has no cultural rights separate from the majority lavic state. Leningrad refuses to dialogue; accordingly, there only remains a military solution. Regarding Islam, European Russia nevertheless holds tightly onto the religious life of its minorities.

Massive voter fraud has been proven prevalent throughout all of the North Caucasus Mountains. Unfortunately, the policy of internal extraordinary rendition is all too common against Russian Islam as by the United States (i.e., Guantanamo).

Tony Woods is certain Chechnya will continue to strive for freedom — for them there is no other option. In the new government (the upcoming Prime Minister Putin) will be in charge of Security (as before) – essentially, nothing will have change! While Vladimir is trying to steal Islamic sovereignty away, he has to grant them full rights to keep what remains of his commonwealth together!

Curiously, Chechnya sits atop an oil reserve. As a result, the Muscovites’ motivations travel beyond the geopolitical into the economic. Although Chechnya has their private geopolitical “space,” their borders are constrained by the Russian Empire. Moscow is offering unacceptable alternatives to Grozny. Hence, the political room is limited, and a solution to this very long-term problem between Orthodox (Christian) Muscovy and (Sunni) Muslim Chechnya is a long way off.

10-16

CAIR-MI celebrates Muslim, Media and the Message at 8th annual banquet

By Sadaf Ali, MMNS

Dearborn-April 5–Nearly one thousand people gathered at the Islamic Center of America for The Michigan Counsel of Islamic American Relations (CAIR) 8th annual banquet at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, MI.

CAIR-MI Executive Director, Dawud Walid gave an update on some of the organization’s major projects and accomplishments, including, sensitivity training for the Canton Police Department. Walid said that this ground-breaking training is much needed in the densely Muslim populated area of Canton and it will also be aired on Detroit’s PBS affiliate.

But the main attraction was this year’s topic “Muslims, Media and the Message” including keynote speaker Zarqa Nawaz, creator and co-writer of CBC TV’s “Little Mosque on the Prairie.”

Nawaz was born in Liverpool and raised in Toronto, where she received a Bachelor of Science from University of Toronto with the intention of going to medical school. Plans changed and Nawaz got another Bachelor’s in Journalism from Ryerson in 1992.

She began working as a freelance writer/broadcaster for CBC radio. Her radio documentary “The Changing Rituals of Death” won first prize at the Ontario Telefest Awards.

Nawaz decided to take a summer film workshop at the Ontario College for Art, where she made her film debut Toronto International Film Festival in 1996, “BBQ Muslims”.

“I never though I could write comedy,” she said.

Two years later Nawaz wrote “Death Threat”, another short film that was also debuted at the Film Fest and that’s when she knew her life had changed.

“That’s when I found my niche. I found out the community was hungry for films about Muslims in a comedic sense,” she said.

However, Nawaz’s shining moment came when she wrote the series, “Little Mosque on the Prairie.”

“CBC was having a difficult time competing with other networks who could air American Idol,” she said, “After the first episode aired, suddenly the entire world was paying attention to us. I was so proud to be a Muslim and a Canadian.”

According to Nawaz the series is appealing because it shows Muslims being normal. It humanizes Muslims.

“If we don’t control our image others will.”

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