ANKARA (Reuters Life!) – A new film that portrays Turkey’s revered founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as a lonely, hard-drinking man beset by doubts has whipped up emotions in a country still grappling with his legacy 70 years after his death.
Ataturk, a former soldier, founded modern Turkey as a secularist republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Portraits of a stern-looking Ataturk adorn the walls of government offices, schools, shops and living rooms across the sprawling nation, testament to a man who has achieved the status of a demi-god among most Turks.
"Mustafa," a documentary that chronicles Ataturk’s life from childhood to his death on November 10, 1938, presents an intimate and flawed Ataturk rarely seen before, angering hardline secularists who have called for a boycott and say the film is an enemy plot to humiliate "Turkishness."
The film, which has drawn large crowds, has fed into a climate of soul searching in Turkey, where democratic reforms, social changes and an impassioned debate over secularism is shaking the pillars of the autocratic state left by Ataturk.
"This documentary is the product of an effort to humiliate Ataturk in the eyes of Turkish people," wrote columnist Yigit Bulut in the secularist Vatan newspaper.
"Do not watch it, prevent people from watching it and most importantly keep your children away from it to avoid planting seeds of Ataturk humiliation in their subconscious," he said.
On Monday, at 9.05 a.m., factory sirens wailed, traffic halted and school children stood to attention, a ritual Turks have followed for 70 years to mark the moment of his death.
"I wanted to show a more human Ataturk than the Ataturk they teach us about at school and in the military service," respected director Can Dundar said in an interview.
"Ataturk has been turned into a dogma or a statue by some of his supporters, but I wanted to show a more real Ataturk — a man who fought difficulties, loved women, who made mistakes, who was sometimes scared and achieved things," Dundar said.
Although the film contains no revelations about his life — thousands of books are published every year on Ataturk — "Mustafa" is the first film that emphasizes the private side of the deified leader over his military and nation-building feats.
Dundar shows him writing love letters during the battle of Gallipoli, where Turkish troops fought foreign occupiers.
Blending archive pictures, black and white footage and re-enactments, he is also seen dancing, drinking raki, wandering his palaces in lonely despair and becoming more withdrawn as he is overtaken by age and illness.
He died of cirrhosis of the liver in Istanbul, aged 58.
DOWN FROM A PEDESTAL
"Mustafa" has spawned extensive commentary in newspapers and on television since it opened two weeks ago. Nearly half a million movie-goers saw it in its first five days.
One Turkish newspaper said the film, with a 1-million-euro budget, had "brought Ataturk down from his pedestal."
"I found it interesting to learn more about who Ataturk was as a human being," said Gorkem Dagci, a 22-year-old engineering student. "He was not flawless, he was like the rest of us."
"Kemalists," who see themselves as true guardians of Ataturk’s legacy and have built a personality cult around him, say the film is an insult to Turkey’s national hero.
Nationalists are furious that the boy who plays Ataturk as a child is Greek. Ataturk was born in Thessaloniki (in today’s Greece) and Dundar used local children while shooting on location.
Turkcell, Turkey’s main mobile phone provider, pulled out of a sponsorship deal for fear of irritating subscribers.
After wresting Turkey’s independence from foreign armies after World War One, Ataturk set about building a country based on Western secular values. When surnames were introduced in Turkey, Mustafa Kemal was given the name Ataturk, meaning "Father of the Turks."
He introduced the Latin alphabet, gave women the right to vote, modernized the education system and removed religion from public life. But he also created an authoritarian state and left the army as guardian of order. Under the military constitution drafted in 1982, it is a crime to insult Ataturk.
Today, democratic reforms aimed at European Union membership are straining notions such as secularism, nationalism and a centralized state. The secularist old guard of generals, judges and bureaucrats is losing its grip on society as a rising and more religious-minded middle class moves into positions of power.
Battles between the ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party and the secularist establishment over the use of the headscarf have revived the debate over Islam and secularism in modern Turkey.
Critics say Kemalists have turned Ataturk’s legacy into a dogma to defend the status quo. Many of his diaries and letters believed to touch on the issue of Islam and Kurdish nationalism are kept out of public view in military archives.
"The foundations of the republic are being discussed and the secularist establishment feels uneasy," author Hugh Pope said. "The debate around this film is a reflection of that but also of a maturing society that can discuss these things openly."
(Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
If you’re still waiting for your economic stimulus payment, it might be in one of the more than 383,000 pieces of mail returned to the IRS.
Those envelopes were undeliverable because of bad addresses. That’s left taxpayers frustrated as the IRS tries to figure out how to get $266 million in tax rebate and regular tax refund checks to the rightful owners.
The good news is that it’s easy to let the IRS know where to resend your rebate or refund check.
But don’t dally. If it’s a rebate you’re waiting on, you only have until Nov. 28 to claim your cash.
Nice-sized checks Most of the money that didn’t make it to taxpayers is from returned rebate checks. They total $163 million, with the average rebate coming to $583.
The regular refunds are fewer and account for only $103 million, but the average returned refund check is $988.
Of course, those amounts are averages. Your unclaimed check might be less, but then again, it could be more. And any amount of money would be nice, especially in these tight economic times and with the holidays approaching.
An annual problem This year’s number of returned tax checks is more than three times the number marked undeliverable last year. That increase is thanks to the economic stimulus payments, which were sent to taxpayers who met certain income requirements.
All these rebate-eligible filers had to do was file a 2007 tax return. But in 279,000 cases, the addresses on those 1040 forms were incorrect.
In many cases, the taxpayers moved after filing their returns and didn’t let the IRS know their new addresses. In some cases, though, the addresses on the forms were illegible, so they bounced back to Uncle Sam.
The same problems showed up on another 104,000 or so returns filed by taxpayers who are due regular tax refunds.
Whatever the reason and whichever tax payment is involved, the IRS has money that could be yours.
"People across the country are missing tax refunds and stimulus checks. We want to get this money into the hands of taxpayers where it belongs," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said in announcing the returned check problem. The tax chief added that as soon his staff gets the updated addresses, the checks will once again be on their way.
Nov. 28 tax rebate deadline Getting that information to the IRS is relatively simple, especially if you use the online options provided by the IRS.
If it’s a rebate check you’re missing, head to the IRS’s "Where’s My Stimulus Payment?" online tracking tool. There you can check the status of your stimulus check and receive instructions on how to update your address. If you prefer, you can do the same by calling the IRS at (866) 234-2942.
Just make sure you go online or make the call by Nov. 28.
By law, the rebate checks must be sent out by Dec. 31. So the IRS has established the late-November address change cutoff date to ensure that it can update its records and meet the final mailing deadline. Recovering a regular refund If it’s a regular refund you’re awaiting, check the IRS’s popular "Where’s My Refund?" money tracker. You’ll need your Social Security number, filing status and the amount of refund shown on your 2007 return.
The online search option then will provide the status of your refund and, in some cases, provide instructions on how to resolve delivery problems. You’ll also be given instructions on how to update your address.
Again, you can check on your refund and update your personal information by calling the IRS, this time at (800) 829-1954.
If you can afford to wait for your refund money or are just too busy right now to be bothered with tracking down missing tax money, you can wait. Your unclaimed tax refund check will find you next filing season when you send in your 2008 return that lists your current, correct address.
Missed deadline means credit, not cash With a rebate check, however, such procrastination could be costly. You must meet the Nov. 28 address update deadline to get your money this year.
True, if you don’t get the correct mailing information into the IRS by then, you’ll get another chance in 2008 at a stimulus payment.
But next year the stimulus payment will be in the form of a credit on your tax return, not a separate check as was sent out this year.
And changes in your income and tax situation this year could affect your stimulus amount.
For example, if you have a child that qualified on your 2007 return for the child tax credit, you were eligible for an extra $300. However, if that child in 2008 does not meet the tax credit requirements, you won’t get that added economic stimulus money on the return you file next year.
Also, keep in mind that although the stimulus payment was distributed in 2007 as a check, it actually is a tax credit. That means any amount of stimulus for which you qualify on a 2008 return will be accounted for against your tax liability.
This means, for example, if you qualify for a $600 economic stimulus amount on your 2008 return and owe $1,000 in taxes, that $600 will be used to reduce your tax bill. You will not get the $600 as a separate payment.
So if you haven’t received your stimulus check yet, contact the IRS, either via the online rebate tracking tool or by phone, as soon as possible. And definitely do so by the Nov. 28 deadline. That’s the only way you’ll get your rebate money this year.
Hajj 1426. Dec 2005 View from the second floor, you can see people trying to circle counter clock.. the cube as they crowds get packed tightly together. You see the rowdy crowds at corners and the gold glass casing ‘called the station of Abraham’
Around the world, crowds exulted at the election win of Barack Obama, from Japan to Indonesia to Nairobi to Nigeria, people on every continent celebrated and welcomed his victory–not to mention in the United States, and for that reason we have called him “the world’s president.â€
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Winning Over Hearts & Minds
… All that changed in an instant. It changed the moment President-Elect Barack ‘Hussein’ Obama was declared the hands-down winner in this past Tuesday’s US Presidential election.
… All that changed in an instant. It changed the moment President-Elect Barack ‘Hussein’ Obama was declared the hands-down winner in this past Tuesday’s US Presidential election.
The United States took a monumental step in electing Barack Obama as its new president. The nation begins a new era inspired by the vision of a country united to face the challenges of our times. A new generation comes to the White House, flying a flag of hope.
My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang-up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan . Despite gaining independent, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public schoolboys rather than Pakistanis.
I read Shakespeare, which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal – the national poet of Pakistan . The class on Islamic studies was not taken seriously, and when I left school I was considered among the elite of the country because I could speak English and wore Western clothes.
Despite periodically shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in school functions, I considered my own culture backward and religion outdated. Among our group if any one talked about religion, prayed or kept a beard he was immediately branded a Mullah.
Because of the power of the Western media, our heroes were Western movie stars or pop stars. When I went to Oxford already burdened with this hang up, things didn’t get any easier. At Oxford , not just Islam, but all religions were considered anachronism. Science had replaced religion and if something couldn’t be logically proved it did not exist. All supernatural stuff was confined to the movies.
Philosophers like Darwin , who with his half-baked theory of evolution had supposedly disproved the creation of men and hence religion, were read and revered. Moreover, European history reflected its awful experience with religion. The horrors committed by the Christian clergy during the Inquisition era had left a powerful impact on the Western mind.
To understand why the West is so keen on secularism, one should go to places like Cordoba in Spain and see the torture apparatus used during the Spanish Inquisition. Also the persecution of scientists as heretics by the clergy had convinced the Europeans that all religions are regressive.
However, the biggest factor that drove people like me away from religion was the selective Islam practiced by most of its preachers. In short, there was a huge difference between what they practiced and what they preached. Also, rather than explaining the philosophy behind the religion, there was an overemphasis on rituals.
I feel that humans are different to animals. While, the latter can be drilled, humans need to be intellectually convinced. That is why the Qur’an constantly appeals to reason. The worst, of course, was the exploitation of Islam for political gains by various individuals or groups.
Hence, it was a miracle I did not become an atheist. The only reason why I did not was the powerful religious influence my mother wielded on me since my childhood. It was not so much out of conviction but love for her that I stayed a Muslim.
However, my Islam was selective. I accepted only parts of the religion that suited me. Prayers were restricted to Eid days and occasionally on Fridays, when my father insisted on taking me to the mosque with him.
All in all I was smoothly moving to becoming a Pukka Brown Sahib. After all I had the right credentials in terms of school, university and, above all, acceptability in the English aristocracy, something that our brown sahibs would give their lives for. So what led me to do a ‘lota’ on the Brown Sahib culture and instead become a ‘desi’? Well it did not just happen overnight.
Firstly, the inferiority complex that my generation had inherited gradually went as I developed into a world-class athlete. Secondly, I was in the unique position of living between two cultures. I began to see the advantages and the disadvantages of both societies.
In Western societies, institutions were strong while they were collapsing in our country. However, there was an area where we were and still are superior, and that is our family life. I began to realize that this was the Western society’s biggest loss. In trying to free itself from the oppression of the clergy, they had removed both God and religion from their lives. While science, no matter how much it progresses, can answer a lot of questions – two questions it will never be able to answer: One, what is the purpose of our existence and two, what happens to us when we die?
It is this vacuum that I felt created the materialistic and the hedonistic culture. If this is the only life then one must make hay while the sun shines – and in order to do so one needs money. Such a culture is bound to cause psychological problems in a human being, as there was going to be an imbalance between the body and the soul. Consequently, in the US , which has shown the greatest materialistic progress while giving its citizens numerous rights, almost 60 percent of the population consult psychiatrists. Yet, amazingly in modern psychology, there is no study of the human soul. Sweden and Switzerland , who provide the most welfare to their citizens, also have the highest suicide rates. Hence, man is not necessarily content with material well-being and needs something more.
Since all morality has it roots in religion, once religion was removed, immorality has progressively grown since the 70s. Its direct impact has been on family life. In the UK , the divorce rate is 60 percent, while it is estimated that there are over 35 percent single mothers. The crime rate is rising in almost all Western societies, but the most disturbing fact is the alarming increase in racism. While science always tries to prove the inequality of man it is only religion that preaches the equality of man.
Between 1991 and 1997, it was estimated that total immigration into Europe was around 520,000, and there were racially motivated attacks all over, especially in Britain , France and Germany . In Pakistan during the Afghan war, we had over four million refugees, and despite the people being so much poorer, there was no racial tension.
There was a sequence of events in the 80s that moved me toward God as the Qur’an says: ‘There are signs for people of understanding. ‘ One of them was cricket. As I was a student of the game, the more I understood the game, the more I began to realize that what I considered to be chance was, in fact, the will of Allah. A pattern, which became clearer with time.
But it was not until Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ that my understanding of Islam began to develop. People like me who were living in the Western world bore the brunt of anti-Islam prejudice that followed the Muslim reaction to the book. We were left with two choices: fight or flight. Since I felt strongly that the attacks on Islam were unfair, I decided to fight. It was then I realized that I was not equipped to do so as my knowledge of Islam was inadequate.
Hence I started my research and for me a period of my greatest enlightenment. I read scholars like Ali Shariati, Muhammad Asad, Iqbal, Gai Eaton, plus of course, a study of Qur’an. I will try to explain as concisely as is possible, what ‘discovering the truth’ meant for me. When the believers are addressed in the Qur’an, it always says, ‘Those who believe and do good deeds.’ In other words, a Muslim has dual function, one toward God and the other toward fellow human beings.
The greatest impact of believing in God for me meant that I lost all fear of human beings. The Qur’an liberates man from man when it says that life and death and respect and humiliation are God’s jurisdiction, so we do not have to bow before other human beings.
Moreover, since this is a transitory world where we prepare for the eternal one, I broke out of the self-imposed prisons, such as growing old (such a curse in the Western world, as a result of which, plastic surgeons are having a field day), materialism, ego, what people say and so on. It is important to note that one does not eliminate earthly desires. But instead of being controlled by them, one controls them.
By following the second part of believing in Islam, I have become a better human being. Rather than being self-centered and living for the self, I feel that because the Almighty gave so much to me, in turn I must use that blessing to help the less privileged. This I did by following the fundamentals of Islam rather than becoming a Kalashnikov- wielding fanatic.
I have become a tolerant and a giving human being who feels compassion for the underprivileged. Instead of attributing success to myself, I know it is because of God’s will, hence I learned humility instead of arrogance.
Also, instead of the snobbish Brown Sahib attitude toward our masses, I believe in egalitarianism and strongly feel against the injustice done to the weak in our society. According to the Qur’an, ‘Oppression is worse than killing.’ In fact only now do I understand the true meaning of Islam, if you submit to the will of Allah, you have inner peace.
Through my faith, I have discovered strength within me that I never knew existed and that has released my potential in life. I feel that in Pakistan we have selective Islam. Just believing in God and going through the rituals is not enough. One also has to be a good human being. I feel there are certain Western countries with far more Islamic traits than us in Pakistan , especially in the way they protect the rights of their citizens, or for that matter their justice system. In fact some of the finest individuals I know live there.
What I dislike about them is their double standards in the way they protect the rights of their citizens but consider citizens of other countries as being somehow inferior to them as human being, e.g. dumping toxic waste in the Third World , advertising cigarettes that are not allowed in the West and selling drugs that are banned in the West.
One of the problems facing Pakistan is the polarization of two reactionary groups. On the one side is the Westernized group that looks upon Islam through Western eyes and has inadequate knowledge about the subject. It reacts strongly to anyone trying to impose Islam in society and wants only a selective part of the religion. On the other extreme is the group that reacts to this Westernized elite and in trying to become a defender of the faith, takes up such intolerant and self-righteous attitudes that are repugnant to the spirit of Islam.
What needs to be done is to somehow start a dialogue between the two extremes. In order for this to happen, the group on whom the greatest proportion of our educational resources is spent in this country must study Islam properly.
Whether they become practicing Muslims or believe in God is entirely a personal choice. As the Qur’an tells us there is ‘no compulsion in religion.’ However, they must arm themselves with knowledge as a weapon to fight extremism. Just by turning up their noses at extremism the problem is not going to be solved.
The Qur’an calls Muslims ‘the middle nation’, not of extremes. The Holy Prophet (s) was told to simply give the message and not worry whether people converted or not, therefore, there is no question in Islam of forcing your opinions on anyone else.
Moreover, we are told to respect other religions, their places of worship and their prophets. It should be noted that no Muslim missionaries or armies ever went to Malaysia or Indonesia . The people converted to Islam due to the high principles and impeccable character of the Muslim traders.
At the moment, the worst advertisements for Islam are the countries with their selective Islam, especially where religion is used to deprive people of their rights. In fact, a society that obeys fundamentals of Islam has to be a liberal one.
If Pakistan’s Westernized class starts to study Islam, not only will it be able to help society fight sectarianism and extremism, but it will also make them realize what a progressive religion Islam is. They will also be able to help the Western world by articulating Islamic concepts. Recently, Prince Charles accepted that the Western world can learn from Islam. But how can this happen if the group that is in the best position to project Islam gets its attitudes from the West and considers Islam backward? Islam is a universal religion and that is why? our Prophet (peace be upon him) was called a Mercy for all mankind.
The raid on Syria is a dark portent. The current president has three long, unaccountable months to cement his legacy…
We are about to enter the twilight zone, that strange black hole in political time and space that appears no more than once every four years. It is known as the period of transition, and it starts a week from today, the time when the United States has not one president but two. One will be the president-elect, the other George Bush, in power for 12 more weeks in which he can do pretty much whatever he likes. Not only will he never again have to face voters, he won’t even have to worry about damaging the prospects of his own party and its standard bearer (as if he has not damaged those enough already). From November 5 to January 20, he will exercise the freest, most unaccountable form of power the democratic world has to offer.
How Bush might use it is a question that gained new force at the weekend, when US forces crossed the Iraqi border into Syria to kill Abu Ghadiya, a man they said had been funnelling “foreign fighters†allied to al-Qaida into Iraq. That American move has touched off a round of intense head-scratching around the world, as foreign ministers and analysts ask each other the time-honored diplomatic query: what did they mean by that? To which they add the post-Nov 4 question: and what does it tell us about how Bush plans to use his final days in the White House?
You can choose from two versions. Call the first the “no big deal†theory. It holds that the Sunday raid was no more than standard operational procedure in the war on terror. Sure, it meant violating the sovereignty of an independent nation state, but that’s not so new: there was a similar incursion into Pakistan in September. Indeed, there may be more relevant precedents. A former official in the Bush administration confirmed to me yesterday that the US has lunged into Syrian territory several times before: it’s just that Damascus chose to keep quiet. In which case, the interesting question is why the Syrians went public this time.
In this “no big deal†version, Abu Ghadiya was simply too irresistible a high-value target to let slip away. “They saw something they wanted to hit and they hit it,†says one European diplomat resignedly. The most extreme version of this shoulder-shrugging account holds that the decision may not even have been taken at the political level, but in the field, by General David Petraeus. Not so implausible, since Bush in effect ceded command of the Iraq war to Petraeus a long while ago.
Nonsense, says the other school of thought. It is a massive deal to strike at a sovereign state in this way: in an earlier era, before 2001, we would have called it an act of war. Pakistan is no precedent, because in that case there was a degree of cooperation. Not now.
This was a deliberate act, calculated to send a series of messages. First, to the Syrians, reminding them who’s boss in the region and strong-arming them to do more to crack down on al-Qaida.
Second, to the Europeans who have been moving towards a rapprochement with Damascus. Nicolas Sarkozy may have invited President Assad to Paris and David Miliband may have been hosting the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Muallem, in London this very Monday, 24 hours after the raid – but no matter. Bush gets to remind both these uppity Europeans who’s in charge.
Third, the president could have been sending a message to his own administration. Perhaps this was a memo to his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, who had dared meet Muallem at the UN just last month in a meeting that apparently she requested. If so, it would fit with the pattern of wildly mixed signals that has emanated from the administration in recent months. Two days before Rice sat down with Muallem, for instance, Bush had used his UN address to denounce Syria as a state sponsor of terror. Might Sunday’s raid have been the president’s attempt to reassert himself against a senior staff all but denuded of its hawks? Rumsfeld, Bolton and Wolfowitz are long gone; the more emollient Robert Gates is at defence, widely tipped to continue under a President Obama. In these last days, Dick Cheney has only himself for company.
However we are meant to read it, the attack on Syria looks a lot like a parting shot from Bush, an end-of-the-movie reminder of what this long and bloody saga has been about. A small operation, causing eight deaths, it nevertheless captures much of the Bush ethos that has ruled the globe these past eight years. It was unilateral; it trampled on state sovereignty; and it relied on force as a first, not last, resort. As a souvenir of the Bush era, it would be hard to top.
But it may not be the final act. For we have not yet entered the twilight zone proper. That will come only when polls close next Tuesday. When the transition begins, all kinds of surprises are possible.
Spool back 20 years, to the dying days of the Reagan administration. In January 1989, the president officially recognised the PLO as the representatives of the Palestinian people. It was a farewell gift to Reagan’s successor, George HW Bush: the old man took the flak so that the new president would not have to.
In December 1992, Bush himself proved rather less helpful to his replacement, saddling Bill Clinton with the deployment of US forces in Somalia, an episode whose humiliating conclusion badly hobbled Clinton thereafter.
Eight years ago, it was Clinton’s turn. He sweated until his final hours in office trying to close a deal between Israel and the Palestinians, who seemed then to be just inches apart. The legacy was the Clinton parameters, still regarded as marking the basic contours of any future agreement for Israel-Palestine.
So what will emerge from the twilight of George W Bush? Most diplomats are bracing themselves. “They’re not going to sleep,†says one senior British official. The optimists hope for a repeat of Reagan and Clinton, something that helps Middle East peace. It’s true that Rice and Bush have been eager for a breakthrough, if only to have a presidential legacy untainted by Iraq. Perhaps Israel and the Palestinians might initial a provisional document, proof that their labours since Bush’s Annapolis summit of 2007 have not been entirely fruitless.
But the bad timing that has cursed the Middle East so often has struck once again. Israel is entering an interregnum of its own, following Tzipi Livni’s failure to form a coalition. It’s hard to believe an interim, caretaker administration could forge a peace deal.
That leaves other options. Bush could ape Reagan and decide to speak to Hamas. More likely would be a shift in policy that helps future peacemaking efforts: he might, for instance, declare that any changes to the 1967 borders must be equal, with Palestinians compensated inch for inch for any West Bank land conceded to Israel. Or he could look further afield in the region, contradicting himself and Sunday’s raid, by reaching out to Syria. Or, as some hawks fear, he could step up the tentative dialogue with Iran. A symbolic gesture would be to open a US visa section in Tehran.
Of course, Bush may be thinking of a parting gift more in keeping with the record of the last eight years. He and Cheney might decide, what the hell, we have one last chance to whack Iran – and let the new guy clear up the mess. Not likely, but possible. For in the twilight zone, anything can happen.
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (in blue turban) and Sonia Gandhi, chief of India’s ruling Congress party visit one of Thursday’s bomb blast sites in the northeastern Indian city of Guwahati November 1, 2008. Indian police detained three Muslims on Saturday after a little-known Islamist group claimed responsibility for bombings that killed 77 people in the troubled state of Assam.
REUTERS/Utpal Baruah
NEW DELHI: Amid the backdrop of India having witnessed 64 serial blasts in six states in less than six months leaving around 250 people dead and more than 900 injured, the issue of terrorism has assumed a new importance in most circles here. Even before waves raised by Batla House encounter (September 19) have settled down, serial blasts in Assam (October 30), which killed around 77 people have hit headlines again. Not surprisingly, the issue of terrorism dominated the annual convocation of Jamia Millia Islamia (October 30). The university has been in news as a few of its students were arrested as “suspect terrorists,†following the Batla House incident- viewed as a fake encounter by many.
During his address, Mushirul Hasan (Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia) said: “Already, our students are being denied jobs because Jamia is supposedly breeding ground of terrorism. Cab drivers warn their passengers not to enter premises. Delivery vans and service providers baulk at entering our neighborhood.†“Is this the price we must pay for being the chief protagonist of pluralist and secular nationhood,†he asked.
“Let us not forget that Gandhiji was killed because he was perceived to be a friend of the Muslims, and an enemy of Hindus while he strived against the violent actions of both Hindus and Muslims,†stated U.R. Ananthamurthy, the chief guest at the convocation. It is time, the noted Indian writer pointed out that all, “Muslims and non-Muslims alike, did a serious exploration of what constitutes the fundamentals of Islam. This is necessary to understand the core of Islam, and, more, importantly to, to extricate Islam and Muslims all over the world from clutches of religious bigots, protect it from misrepresentations of Western media and its lackeys, and to highlight the dynamism of Islam as religion and philosophy.â€
With Indian authorities’ anti-terrorism drive having taken a new turn, marked by recent arrests of certain Hindus for their alleged role in Malegaon blasts, after the convocation, Ananthamurthy’s opinion was sought. Did their arrests suggest a positive change? He categorically told TMO: “No. Whether Hindus or Muslims, names of people arrested on grounds of suspicion should not be revealed.†They may be proved innocent later, but damage is already done where their reputation and careers are concerned, he explained. Laying stress that “restraint is necessary,†he asked: “Why should media give out names of all arrested under suspicion before they are proved to be guilty?â€
At the convocation, honorary doctorate degrees were conferred on Naseeruddin Shah (actor), Shabana Azmi (actor and social activist), Kapila Vatsyayan (scholar of classical Indian dance) and Asghar Ali Engineer (writer and scholar on liberal theology of Islam).
When asked for his opinion on recent arrests of radical Hindus as suspect terrorists, Engineer replied: “This could be a politically motivated drive.†Blaming politics and media for having played a negative role regarding Batla House encounter, Engineer told TMO: “The arrests (of Hindu radicals) may be linked to an attempt of authorities to try and improve their image among Indian Muslims.†On whether their arrests could be linked to new fervor with which secular Indians, Muslims and non-Muslims, have begun raising their voice against only Muslims being labeled as “terrorists,†Engineer gave a nod. “With elections round the corner, the government cannot ignore the Muslim voice or vote,†he pointed out.
When opinion of A. Malik (deputy registrar at Jamia Millia Islamia) was sought on the new zeal with which questions are being raised on only Muslims being labeled as terrorists, he replied: “For how long can Muslims remain silent and patient? They have taken it for too long.†The problem, however, cannot be solved overnight and/or with just a few arrests, he said. “Like-minded people need to get together and chalk out long-term plans to change communal mindset of certain sections,†he said.
“We (Muslims) cannot afford to keep quiet any more,†according to Iftekhar Ahmed (director, Mass Communication Center, Jamia Millia Islamia). More so, because of the apathy shown by the government towards role of police in “encounter cases,†he said. “The government (apparently) prefers remaining quiet so as not to demoralize the police force. But it forgets that the same attitude contributes to entire Muslim community feel demoralized,†Ahmed said. Questioning the manner in which “madarsas†have been targeted as breeding ground of terrorism, he asked: “What about schools run by saffron-brigade, with communal agenda being taught there? Why isn’t any action being taken against them?â€
Undeniably, the urgent need of the moment sensed by secular Indians, Muslims and non-Muslims, is a change in the anti-terrorism drive, which is not shaped by political interests and/or a communal mindset.
Interestingly, while actors Shah and Azmi were all smiles for everyone who congratulated them for their new degrees, they refused to give any comment. Though Shah had an extra-big smile for one claiming to be from his native town (Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh), when approached for his views, he simply replied: “I will not say anything. This is not the place to give comments.†Azmi preferred wondering as to what would she be addressed as now: “Dr, Dr, Dr… This is my third doctorate.†When asked for her views, she just said: “I am not here to give comments.â€
Considering that the actors’ comments may have been regarded as “newsworthy,†they apparently let their ethics command them to remain quiet and not let their views overshadow the “convocation-news!â€
Survivors of an earthquake sit near their collapsed houses in Ziarat, one of the main tourist spots in Baluchistan, October 29, 2008. About 175 people were killed when the powerful earthquake hit the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan on Wednesday, flattening about 1,500 mud-walled homes and triggering landslides, officials said.
REUTERS/Athar Hussain
It has been many days since the earthquake hit areas of Balochistan. The situation over there seems to be worse by day. Winter has hit full on and people who have lost their homes have lost even ways of keeping themselves warm. Even though rescue workers and NGO’s claim that they have collected hundreds and thousands of dollars and have sent goods to the effected areas the victims tell a different story. Every day we get images of several children sleeping under one blanket in sub zero weather. We hear about people who have not eaten in days because there is no aid coming.
There are camps and relief efforts under way in that area but the people claim that those are not enough to provide for everyone. Also, some villages have been reported as not getting any aid because they are far and small. Some victims have claimed that their village or areas is not even on the radar of the aid workers so they have to travel to nearby villages to get some kind of help.
To top it all off the constant after shocks have the people scared and unable to move on from the catastrophe. People refuse to go into homes that have been left standing because of the fear of an after shock. These conditions have made it difficult for the weak and the young to survive. Many more children who had originally survived the earthquake have died and many are seriously ill not being able to handle the cold and lack of food and water.
Jamaat-e-Islami’s Alkhidmat claims that they have sent aids worth $25 million to the areas in need. MQM’s Khidmat-e-Khalq has claimed that they have gathered and dispatched goods for about $0.28 million. PML-N says that they have gathered material worth $2.2 million to send to Balochistan. It is important to note that all of these organizations have gathered the donations from the public and these organizations are merely the portal through which the aid from people of Pakistan gets to the people of Balochistan. On their own people are doing everything that they can to help out. Many organizations have set up camps in the areas of Balochistan and have started relief work but all of this does not seem to be enough.
According to reports hundreds have died and more continue to die because of the severe weather and the lack of food, shelter and medication.
However, the question here is, is our government and other governments doing enough. Is the money and good reaching the right place at the time?
The people in need of relief are now starting to stage protests and are picketing in different places in order to have their needs met and get some relief from this horrible situation.
The government seems to have a different picture. The government officials say that not as many people have been affected and that relief has been provided to most of them. They also say that reconstruction efforts are already under way and things will be looking up very soon. They say that some villages that are claiming that thousands of people are homeless, only 20 or so houses were destroyed and things are not as bad it they seem or the media makes things out to be.
Nigerians celebrate U.S. President-elect Senator Barack Obama’s (D-IL) historic White House victory in Lagos November 5, 2008. People across Africa sang and danced with joy on Wednesday as the Illinois senator they see as one of their own became the first black U.S. president.
REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye (NIGERIA)
The brunt of the failed Bush administration has impacted the Middle East more than anywhere else in the World. Bush’s War on Terror, purported “Axis of Evil,†and the continued aggressions in Iraq and Afghanistan, are just a few of the reasons why most people living in the Gulf not only abhor the West but are also mistrustful of anything America has to say.
All that changed in an instant.
It changed the moment President-Elect Barack ‘Hussein’ Obama was declared the hands-down winner in this past Tuesday’s US Presidential election.
The historic election, which has seen the first African-American to ever elected president, was not a sure thing despite favorable polls predicting an Obama win–because many factors were working against him from the beginning.
The Republicans tied Obama to both domestic and Islamic terrorism for no other reason than to make sure Republican Candidate John McCain won, whether ‘by hook or by crook’.
President-Elect Barack Obama’s race was also feared to be a factor with many racial slurs being promoted online. In one popular email forward voters were warned from turning the White House ‘black’. However, throughout it all, President-elect Obama carried on in dignity, walking with that dignity all the way to the presidency.
In America, his middle name ‘Hussein’ was often used against him with many misguided Americans accusing President-Elect Obama of being a Muslim ‘in hiding’.
However, his middle name has made him more likeable in the Gulf, as a common name in the region. Also, the fact that President-elect Obama’s father was raised as a Muslim and that he attended school with Muslims makes most Gulf residents feel he will be more sensitive to Islamic issues than his predecessor, and those who surrounded his predecessor, whose every word seemed to indicate contempt for Islam and a severe aversion to having any cultural or religious understanding.
In this way Obama, has won over the hearts of many living in the Gulf who believe him when he said, in his Victory Speech, “And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.â€
However, politically speaking, most Gulf countries are more conservative in their thinking and have more in common with Republicans than the Democrats.
As President-elect Obama sets to work choosing his Cabinet, and prepares for his official inaugraturtation on January 20, 2009, there is a sense that many heads of Gulf States are collectively holding their breaths as they keep a watchful eye on President-Elect Obama’s next move.
The most pressing issue is what stance the new president will take with Iran. Will he allow the supposed nuclear proliferation of Iran to go on unabated, which could make it a force to be reckoned with in the future?
Or will he take measures to ensure that Iran poses no danger to its’ neighbors as well as Western interests? These questions will hopefully be answered as soon as President-elect Obama takes his seat in the Oval Office where he will have to work hard to win over the minds of many in the Middle East.
A Palestinian shopkeeper displays mugs with pictures for U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama in his shop in Gaza November 2, 2008. The mugs read “Hey!!! Come and drink the Palestinian coffee with the flavor of the US Presidential Electionâ€.
REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
“Nam, Nehnu, Nastatyeh†is Arabic for “Yes, we canâ€. Three small ships and less than 100 brave humanitarians have accomplished what many thought was impossible. They have broken the siege of Gaza, not once but twice.
Readers of The Muslim Observer are intimately familiar with the suffering and deprivation of the people of Gaza. The main stream media pay scant attention to the situation. If it is reported at all, it is an air brushed version of the actual conditions usually done without identifying the state of Israel as the oppressor.
Humanitarians around the world have tried to shine a light on Gaza and many have tried to relieve the conditions of the Gazan people. Among the most active and successful group has been the freeGaza movement which in late August broke the more than 40 year siege of Gaza by sailing into Gaza at its Mediterranean shoreline. While spending a few days there, the passengers worked with and visited the local population, leaving some of their members in Gaza and returning with Gazan residents. The later included residents of Gaza who would reunite with family and children in need of medical procedures that could not be performed locally.
On October 29, the third ship, the USS Dignity, flying a flag of Gibraltar, successfully completed the second trip. The ship and its crew and passengers arrived to the cheers of thousands of Gazans in rainy conditions. The U. S. S. Dignity had been threatened by the Israeli Navy in a superficial move to save face. The ship’s passengers and crew were informed through the media and not directly by the Israeli authorities, that Israel would forcibly stop the ship. Israel backed down, the ship not having entered Israel’s territorial waters as the Israelis knew it would not. Indeed, the freeGaza movement extended an invitation to prominent Israeli officials to accompany the ship on its humanitarian mission.
The crew consisted of 27 unarmed civilians on a humanitarian mission and carried in its hold badly needed medical supplies. Among the passengers was Huwaida Arraf, an attorney and teacher at Al Quds University in Jerusalem; Nobel Prize winner Mairead Maguire, and Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, a member of the Palestine Legislative Council.
Again the freeGaza travellers accompanied Gaza fishermen beyond the 6 mile limit imposed on them by Israel. One of the ships with an international aboard was fired upon. There were three Israeli Naval vessels, on of which had a large water cannon. As a result of fire from the canon, much of the equipment on the boat was blown overboard.
After accomplishing its mission in Gaza, the USS Dignity returned to Cyprus on November 2nd. The internationals brought with them a student who had been denied by the Israelis the right to study medicine in Belgium and 23 of the original passengers. All were greeted by Palestinian refugees from Iraq holding olive branches and signs. Many of them were displaying the names of towns and villages taken by the Israelis and many were waving the keys to their stolen homes. Huwaida Arraf said: “Once again we’ve been able to defy an unjust and illegal policy while the rest of the world is too intimidated to do anything.â€
To find out more about the freeGaza movemnet and to make badly needed donations, please access their web site at: <www.freegaza.org>.
The US agreed to drop the name of the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar from the terror list ahead of talks with the insurgents, an official says.
“US intends to remove Mullah Omar from the black list in a bid to provide a suitable seedbed for holding contacts with the Taliban,†said Sunday, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Patrick S. Moon.
Moon added that during his upcoming visit to Kabul, he will fully support the idea of negotiated settlement with the Taliban militants to end the violence in the region. He also reiterated that the talks with the Taliban insurgents were possible within the Afghan Constitution.
Also, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the US was considering taking part in talks with Taliban in a sharp change in tactics in Afghanistan.
The developments come at a time when US, British and NATO forces are experiencing some of the most violent attacks since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Mullah Mohammad Omar, known as simply ‘Mullah Omar’, is the reclusive leader of Taliban of Afghanistan and was the country’s de facto head of state from 1996 to 2001. He went into hiding, following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Mullah Omar was wanted by the US for harboring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network.
With ALLAH’S name, The Merciful Benefactor, Merciful Redeemer
By Imam Abdullah El-Amin
Ed. Note- Updated from an earlier column
“None of you truly believes until you love for your brother what you love for yourself.â€
“There is a morsel of flesh where if it be whole, the entire body is whole: and if it be diseased, the entire body is diseased. Surely it is the heart.†Saying of Prophet Muhammad (s).
The above “symbolic heart†clearly shows that our goodness should guide our intellect. If you are smart as a whip, but have no morals, you are no good to society. And if you don’t wish goodness on your brother or sister, your belief comes into question. Those words have a deep and profound meaning as they relate to the way the sons and daughters of Adam (human beings) are supposed to behave. Prophet Isa ibn Maryam said the same thing in the Injeel when he said, “Love your brother as yourself.â€
When we are embarking upon an action on another human being, the first question we should ask ourselves is “How would I want to be treated in this same circumstance?†The way to get the best answer is to first have a purification of your heart. You must start with a clean heart and with the best of intentions.
I cannot overemphasize the importance of the heart in guiding the rest of our existence on a peaceful, progressive journey. Intelligence is second – the heart is first. As I said last week, the heart is what allows us to “talk†to each other in a non-verbal way. Our hearts communicate with truths that cannot be denied.
So how do we insure that our hearts maintain a level of compassion and love?
First we must make an appointment with the Almighty giver of peace, ALLAH. When we are spiritually ailing, ALLAH is ready and willing to help us. He has promised to renew us when we ask and submit our wills to His will.
Number two; we must examine our hearts frequently. We must keep a check on our intentions. It is possible to feel that we are living normal, healthy lives when in reality we may have physical problems we are unaware of. It is the same with our spiritual well being. We should regularly examine the state of our own hearts in relation to others and our Creator. Ask yourself, “When was the last time I recognized someone in need? How did I react to them? How do I react when I know someone is hurting and in need?â€
We must keep positive habits about ourselves. Look first to change yourself instead of trying to change someone else. You can do this in simple ways such as: greeting your neighbors with a smile, looking people in the eye, listening carefully when they speak. Instead of turning inward, make a conscious decision to look outward. Consistently imagine yourself in others’ situations, and you will soon learn what being compassionate is all about.
Keep yourself physically healthy. If your heart is in good shape physically, you will be able to concentrate on the spiritual aspects of it. You will be able to practice generosity and discover the joy of giving. Instead of waiting for those in need to come to you, keep your eyes, ears, and heart open to search for them. Find new ways to help. Seek out service programs at the Masjid that you are interested in. One of those programs just might be what you need to give your heart a needed workout – and the Masjid will benefit by positive growth.
This is how we can enhance what ALLAH has provided us with to make His world a better place for all who live here. There is hope for weary, apathetic hearts. Think to make your intentions pure and then act on that purity. It will elevate you as well as your brother. If you want it for yourself – make sure he gets it too.
All articles for this issue reached the publisher before the national elections ended. If anyone named with a certainty the winners then he or she has clairvoyant abilities, an astute perception, or exceptional luck. Since I don’t possess any of those attributes, the only prediction I will make is that by the time this paper reaches you many people will have expressed elation over the results of the election, and many people will have expressed dejection. These reactions of elation and dejection usually accompany the aftermath of our national elections, and make a statement about the value structure of our society.
We have made our sorrow and our joy dependent upon a power outside of ourselves. We as a society have become a receptive entity that responds to the dictates of our government. We have given it complete power over us. We ask it to supply our medical needs, educational availability, housing requirements, financial stability, and national security. In return we will work like donkeys on the treadmill of production doing whatever is required of us. This condition represents the complete feminization of the nation.
In the natural process of mating the female seeks out a male that will provide the environment and means for her to bring forth life and nurture the species. Part of the understood agreement is that the male will keep that environment safe and secure, and if necessary even die to protect the female and her offspring. (An aside to the ladies, the only man worthy of being your husband is one who is willing to die for you.) By emasculating the male and destroying the institution of marriage the government became the new authority figure in the home.
However, it was not long after the government took over the masculine influence in the home that it also began to usurp the nurturing function of the female. Wives could stay home while husbands fulfilled their obligation of providing the environment and the means for nurturing; however, the government husband requires mothers to work; therefore, it has gradually taken over an increasing share of the nurturing activities that mothers used to perform. It sends children to pre-school nurseries, and after school programs. It feeds them, inoculates them, and indoctrinates them. If mothers do not comply with government dictates the children are removed from her and given to others who will comply. Government authority cannot love women, and it certainly will not die for them, although the reverse might occur.
The result of this unlimited intrusion into our lives by the government has resulted in the debilitating depression of 10 million women, the raising of the most violent boys in the world, and the highest rate of male incarceration in the world; these statistics indicate the wretched condition of men, women, and children in our society. Regardless of who won the election, increasing numbers of people will become dejected.
The path to permanent elation comes from a realization that God is the source of all things and that he has given us his bounty at no charge and will always provide for, care for, and love us. All that he asks is that we do our best within our understanding to live in accordance with the grand design that he created.
Elder George’s website is www.mensaction.net and he can be reached at 212-874-7900 ext. 1329.
This is an unbelievable and historic moment for the United States of America. It is now up to you, Mr. President-elect, to show the USA and the world that the course you will chart out will be historical as well.
We believe you are a man with a vision and a man of the future, who will guide this nation to a new course, one with a bright future. Change is coming to America.
Your victory is a defining moment that is comparable with Neil Armstrong setting his foot on the moon. It is a defining moment comparable to the crumbling of the Berlin wall. You have torn down the glass walls that existed between the various peoples of America–distinctions of skin color, race, ethnicity, and of religion. Today America has healed the wounds of the past.
Many could not even imagine this day, especially 45 years ago when Dr. Martin Luther King gave his “I have a dream†speech. This is the American revolution of grandeur. This is the product of the civil rights struggles of the 1960’s.
This is an American greatness. Americans through the ages have learned to become tolerant of the peoples who form it. This is the measure of its civility.
Few have yet grasped the importance and significance of this great event. Imagine an African American speaking from the Rose Garden.
Or President Obama holding a press conference on the South Lawn, or greeting foreign heads of state in his oval office. Imagine an African-American family living in the White House, the images it will carry world wide. It will be of enormous importance to the world, and especially to you and me.
This is a great lesson for us and for our coming generations. We shouldn’t despair about our condition.
Yes, we are passing through a critical phase, but not as bad as that experienced by our African American brothers, only 60 years ago.
We are in a better position as compared to that time. This event inspires us and especially our progeny, that this great country will provide an opportunity to bring change or to make history–you just have to believe it is possible, and work very hard for it.
Barak Hussein Obama is the 44th President-elect of the United States.
In a way, it was neither a victory for Obama, the individual, nor a defeat for McCain as an individual. Instead it was a victory of people over the establishment, new over old, of hope, peace and harmony over hatred and bigotry.
It was a defeat for those who wanted America to question the patriotism of Americans named Hussein. It was a mandate against those who wanted to rule America with intimidation. It was a rejection of the policy of blind support of big business; it was a step back to the moral highground, a victory against the politics of hate, doubt, and division.
The victory for Obama was secured by those ordinary men and women who not only donated $6.00 to $25.00 to the Democratic party campaign, but who also came out in streets, knocking on every door for the new change they were seeking for their country.
It was a powerful revolt against Bush, McCain, Cheneyand Palin and against those who imitate their worst qualities of bigotry and intolerance.
Perhaps it was appropriate for those of us who now celebrate November 5, 2008 as a day of deliverance. Many of us were thankful to God for delivering us from this past seemingly interminable eight years.
During the last few weeks of the campaign , the old establishment of the Republican party tried to use every possible trick to galvanize its ranks and file. Groups from the political and even religious fringe attempted to intervene obliquely in the election, by spreading the anti-Muslim propaganda film Obsession with an all-out assault via this nation’s newspaper infrastructure.
Many Church leaders were recruited to help project Islam in the manner shown in the film, and to vilify Islam and Muslims to dovetail with the film’s work. 7 years of abuses against Muslims hovered in the background through the election, and continued in the form of taunts and rants leveled against Muslims by fringe-right talk-show hosts and even some Republican candidates.
But people on November 4, 2004 rejected the politics of fear and deception. They shocked the old establishment by demonstrating clearly that they were wise enough to reject the old political style.
It is this victory that one must celebrate and in more than one sense, it is a celebrations for the end of an era of bigotry. Obama represents the symbol of that new era politics. Not only Muslim Americans, but all those who felt that their dignity and honor were constantly challenged during the years of Republican rule, must find comfort in the fact that the overwhelming majority of the country rejected the politics of division, and moved to place the country under the stewardship of hope, beneficial change, and universal goodwill, rather than fear, anger, and secret deals.
Mercifully, the month of October is over. It will go into the record books as one of the worst months ever in financial history. The wealth destroyed in world stock markets ran well into the trillions of dollars. But the month’s last week brought a sharp reversal with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shooting higher by 11%. Investors have come out of their shells in search of bargains that such market lows offer. I hope they’ve been looking in the same places I did!
Trying to pick a bottom as the stock market falls can be hazardous to your wealth. In looking over the Lipper tables showing mutual fund returns for the year, as of the end of October, I see a truly stunning picture. Not one sector of mutual funds remains in positive territory for the year!
Considering my frequent reminders, I hope this latest proof finally makes evident to the last of you the “real†value of asset allocation theories in bear markets. Diversify all you want in an effort to minimize risk and volatility, but, in bear markets, all asset classes are subject to falling in tandem. So much for the magic of diversification!
A value investor who does his own fundamental research may not really care whether the stock market has hit bottom or not. Warren Buffett often mentions that he doesn’t worry about such things. If he can buy a good business at a fair price, a business that he understands in terms of how it does business and makes money, he’s in.
For the rest of us, market risk matters too much to ignore, especially if we are already nursing losses. So we normally wait until the performance charts turn upward before adding risk in the form of stock exposure. The curse of most value investors is diving back into stocks too early during down cycles. I have done that — more often than I care to recall.
Sometimes, though, the risk just doesn’t seem all that great, regardless of what’s happening in the overall market. When underlying values become extremely compelling, to avoid buying shares is simply just too hard to do. Actually, I never thought I’d see again in companies or countries the favorable trends that are now in evidence.
Yet, this is one of those times, with the market reversing its downward trend this past week. And I feel the added comfort of large numbers of other investors who are joining me. I hope this trend lasts more than a few weeks, though I do think this rally, if that’s what we’re seeing now, will be rather short-lived in the domestic markets.
Since asset prices have been beaten down so far, I am compelled to go nibbling around the edges. Yes, we are seeing prices that I didn’t expect to see again. Apparently, they became possible by the sheer tonnage of mistakes made by hedge fund and mutual fund managers trying to hit massive home runs by using too much margin debt (also known as leverage).
Their loss is someone else’s gain. For example, consider two of the best known mutual fund managers, Ken Heebner of the CGM Focus Fund and Bill Miller of the Legg Mason Value Trust Fund. Both managers maintained aggressive allocations throughout the past full-year of market decline. Both are now licking their wounds, which happens when fund managers lose half of their customers’ money in such a short period of time.
Besides these losses, they are, no doubt, processing a large volume of redemption requests from fund share holders. With so many investors wanting to get out, fund managers are forced to sell even those shares they consider the very best opportunities for profit. So they sell their favorite holdings to raise cash to pay back investors. And here we are, sitting on cash, waiting to buy. Lucky us!
With such a long list of casualties among funds and individual shares, where do we look first? One option is to do what famed investor Jim Rogers does. He looks for what has been beaten down the most and drawn little interest from the investment crowd.
Rogers says that he looks only in the darker corners of the markets for those buys that are just tossed on the floor, unwanted by others. All he has to do, he adds, is ‘’Walk over and pick them up.’’ Rogers mentions, too, that he is always looking for the window with the shortest line of buyers.
Now, with so many mutual funds sporting losses of between 40 to 50%, not many buyers are lining up at any window, so, again, we are finding almost too many possibilities to choose from. But, in an effort to keep this process as simple as possible, I will go with Rogers’ basic premise: finding what has been beaten down most and starting there.
Those sectors of mutual funds now showing average losses of more than 50%, year-to-date, are led by emerging markets, China region, gold, international small- and mid-caps and Latin America. So how lucky am I? Those sectors have been my favorite places to shop all along! And if those fund prices have fallen that much, I’m assuming that some individual shares have dropped even more and are selling at shockingly low prices and earnings multiples.
The best part of this picture is that each of those markets has climbed higher today than at the start of this decade. That cannot be said for our domestic markets, as revealed by charts for the S&P 500 or Dow, which now show losses of about 40%, in nominal terms, since the start of this decade. Doesn’t that fact confirm, again — in stark fashion, that the domestic markets are mired in a long-running bear market cycle?
If you are looking for an obvious opportunity, check the precious metals sector. The gold stock index recently fell to about the same spot where it began at the start of this decade. But then, you could buy gold for about $300/ounce. Today, it goes for well over $700. So gold shares prices now compare with those available when gold and silver sold for approximately half of their current prices.
Sure, production costs for metals have risen, but so has the Federal Reserve’s willingness to print money. And we know that process goes on at alarming rates, thus increasing the metals’ value.
Secular bull markets in places like Brazil, India and other parts of Asia have been interrupted by the investor herd as it goes about its predictable performance chasing. Before long, many will discover that they were late to the party and sell in disgust — once again. Since many hedge funds did the same thing — with leverage added, they have been forced to sell to stop the pain of taking large losses.
Again, their losses are our potential gains. I believe that the emerging markets and commodity sectors — like metals and energy — will also rebound, based on their underlying fundamentals. This will happen once the last of the big losers leaves the playing field.
This scenario reveals how we investors get the chance to buy low. After all, isn’t that what investing is all about? Of course, if you buy into any of these areas based solely on my recommendation and without doing your own homework, don’t expect an easy ride to profits! Always know what you’re buying — and why. Using the “value†method to make selections helps you when the going gets tough.
Have a great week. Bob
Bob Wood ChFC, CLU Yusuf Kadiwala. Registered Investment Advisors, KMA, Inc., invest@muslimobserver.com.
MONTREAL (News Agencies)–Montreal’s famed McGill contains the world’s most valuable collection of Islamic manuscripts, but the Muslim students on campus find little accomodation when it comes to facilities for prayer or Halal food.
According to McGill Daily newspaper only two cafetarias on campus serve Halal food.
Sana Saeed, VP External of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) was disappointed with the shortage of halaal options.
“In Montreal there are tons of Halaal restaurants, making the lack of halaal foods at McGill surprising,†Saeed said in an email to The Daily, adding that it was crucial to nutritional inclusivity that there were halal options available at McGill.
Halal cheese company saves NY jobs
NEW YORK, Oct.29,2008 (News Agencies)–The Saratoga Cheese Corporation, which specializes in specialty Halal cheeses, is saving jobs in central New York. The company is building a new cheese plan in Cayuga County.
It will be a forty million dollar facility in the new Aurelius Industrial Park just outside Auburn. And it will use a local raw material, milk, to produce high quality soft cheeses for the New York and New Jersey Market.
When at full production, the Saratoga Cheese Company will create nearly 80 jobs and have a nearly 3 1/4 million dollar payroll. Good news for dairy farmers, Saratoga will also require 240 million pounds of milk annually.
Festival unites East Texas
LONGVIEW, TX–The recently held multicultural festival served as a common ground for diverse groups to mingle and learn about each other.
The East Texas Islamic Society was on hand with vice president Anwar Khalifa and Syed Muhammed both giving away information to anyone who stopped at their booth. The giveaways included the Koran and other pamphlets discussing those burning questions that some dare not to ask or assume they have the answers, the East Texas review reported.
According to Khalifa, many people came by their booth to get free educational materials. “It is always positive when you are invited to something like this,†Khalifa said. “Some may not stop and talk to you but we came so they can know that we are not a dangerous part of the community.â€
Adil Khan, CEO,Amplidyne
Adil Khan is the President and CEO of Amplidyne, Inc. Founded in 1988, Amplidyne is a group of privately held companies devoted to international business. Headquartered in Colorado, USA, it develops and leverages a global network of contacts and business relationships to connect technologies to applications, products to markets and people to people in organizations worldwide.
In his 35 years of international business experience, Mr. Khan has built business relationships – including distributorships and agency agreements for Fortune 500 companies – on every continent and in over 20 countries.
Mr. Khan began his career establishing sales organizations in the Middle East and working as a project consultant in pre-qualifying, designing, and specifying product requirements for international opportunities. Currently he is promoting and developing renewable energy, specifically solar energy, power plants and applications. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Strategic Planning & Business Management at the University of Denver, USA and a member of the university’s Advisory Board for the Center for Management Development. Mr. Khan also serves as President of the Colorado Schools Resource Center and is a founder and member of the Governing Board of Directors for American Academy, a K-8 school in Colorado, USA. He also supports various community and philanthropic interests.
Mr. Khan holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE), a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and several certifications in technology applications.
Tammy Lynn Center Names Awamary Khan as Controller
RALEIGH, N.C. – The Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities announced the appointment of Awamary Khan as controller. In this position, Khan will be responsible for all business and accounting functions and financial reporting.
“We are pleased to have Awamary join us,†says Mary Freeman, president and CEO of the Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities. “Her dedication and nonprofit expertise make her an ideal fit within our organization.â€
Khan joins the center after spending seven years as the regional finance executive for the Triangle Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.
“I’ve always enjoyed helping people – both directly and indirectly,†says Khan. “I look forward to assisting the Tammy Lynn Center in providing support services to those with special needs.â€
Khan received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Shaw University and a Master of Business Administration degree in corporate finance from Upper Iowa University.
Ali Kalwar promoted to VP of American Systems
ORLANDO, FL–American Systems, a government and commercial IT solutions provider and one of the top 100 employee-owned companies in the U.S., today announced the promotion of Ali Kalwar to vice president and director of the company’s Custom Creative Solutions (CCS) directorate. In this new role, Kalwar will provide expert oversight to the directorate’s projects aimed at delivering software, hardware, training, electronic classroom, systems integration and courseware development solutions tailored to the needs of public and private sector customers.
“With nearly 30 years of training, simulation and business leadership experience, Ali is the ideal candidate for this position,†said William C. Hoover, president and CEO of American Systems. “Ali’s talent and vision will further expand our ability to deliver the cost-effective, creative and tailored solutions our customers have come to rely on, and strengthen the role of the CCS as a training services business of choice.â€
American Systems’ CCS directorate develops cutting-edge training systems, services and solutions customized to meet specific needs and ensure program success for commercial and government customers. Currently, the directorate is delivering best-in-class development training systems for Flying-Model-Simulators (FMS) and providing expert services for Home Port Training.
Prior to his new position, Kalwar spearheaded AMERICAN SYSTEMS’ efforts in maintenance trainer development and was program manager of the Simulated Aircraft Maintenance Trainer (SAMT) program, which provides a safe, realistic virtual environment for U.S. Navy maintenance crews to hone their skills. Before joining American Systems, Kalwar served as the vice president of program management for ECC International and was also co-founder of DreamFind, Inc. Kalwar is based out of American Systems’ Orlando, FL office.
People of Baluchistan Need Your Assistance – Helping Hand Working in the Area
Helping Hand (USA) For Relief and Development [HH] has established a $50,000 initial budget for one month to assist 300 families in Ziarat, Baluchistan, Pakistan, who were hit by an earthquake measuring 6.4 Richter Scale on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 23:09:58 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 06:09:58 AM Pakistan Standard Time (PST).
For more information and sending your contributions, please see the advertisement of HH in our publication or contact ILyas Hasan Choudry, US South Region Coordinator for HH, at 832-275-0786 or E-Mail ILyas. HHSouth@Yahoo.Com – Address: 5822 Catherwood Lane; Houston; Texas 77084.
HH is assisting 300 out of the thousands of affected families, who are being helped by 25 humanitarian organization members of the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF). Their sectored expertise include Public Health Promotion; Public Health Engineering; Logistics; Social Mobilization; Medical; Education; Shelter; and General Humanitarian Experience.
Looking at the scope of the emergency, Rao Javaid of HH reporting from Ziarat has informed that the epicenter of the 6.4 Richter Scale Quake was 60 km (35 miles) NNE of Quetta, Pakistan, 185 km (115 miles) SE of Kandahar, Afghanistan, 195 km (120 miles) NNE of Kalat, Pakistan, 640 km (400 miles) WSW of Islamabad, Pakistan. The depth of the earthquake was 15 km (9.3 miles). The initials reports suggested that district Ziarat is the most affected area. In District Ziarat union councils Kawas and Kuch are the most affected. Due to limited time for assessment, we were not able to actually count the number of affected families / households in the villages of these union councils. We were not able to verify the government figures during the assessment as claimed that about 3,000 families that has been affected, we were only visited few villages of these union councils. There may be some changes in the numbers at later stage.
HH is the same organization, which worked diligently when earthquake struck Azad Kashmir and NWFP in 2005. As you may be aware, several thousand families are living in tent villages in NWFP and that the World Food Bank wanted to give these people food for one year. “Based on HH past performance, World Food Bank has allocated $1.3 Million to HH to distribute the food, which is one small proof about the credible work of HH (By the Grace of God),†informed ILyas Hasan Choudry.
ICNA Houston Organized An Enjoyable Picnic At Katy Park
Around two-hundred children and adults attended a picnic organized by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Houston Chapter at Katy Park. Special arrangements were made to play cricket, soccer, volleyball and basketball. A Panetta full of candies and goodies was busted by children. BBQ was done and enjoyed by all.
Several soccer matches were happening for young children across this park and this was good interaction between Muslims and Non-Muslims. Aadhan was made aloud twice for Dhuhar and Asar Prayers.
US South Regional President of ICNA Adnan Tafsir from Richardson Texas attended the picnic with his family. Making a short presentation after Asar Prayers, Haseeb Abdali, President of ICNA Houston, informed that the IKE Recuperation Center of ICNA Relief, which has been operating everyday (except for Sunday) at the Galveston Islamic Center, is assisting more than 500 Galvestonians every day. He asked for peoples’ time as volunteers for this program and monetary assistance.
For more information, one can call Saad Ansari of ICNA Relief at or 281-282-7010 visit www.icnarelief.org
Well-Attended Eid Carnival At ISGH North Zone Center
With more than twelve fun activities and rides, plus various sumptuous food items & nice choice of clothes, the Annual Eid Carnival at ISGH North Zone Adel Road Masjid of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH) and Darul- Arqum School North, was a big success. Everyone enjoyed a good time with their families, with reasonable prices for everything. We at Pakistan Chronicle and Pakistan Journal would like to extend our heartiest commiserations for a job well-done to Ibrahim Badat, Dr. Muhammad Hanif, Abbas Vaid, Tariq Khan Lodhi, Akhlaque Ahmed, Abdul Qadir Badat, Rizwan Badat, Iqbal Badat, Sister Muneera Vaid and all of their dedicated volunteers. Call 281-583-1984 for more details’.
For months, I have been reading in every issue of your newspaper what Elder George has to say and every time I finish his section wondering; why does the Muslim Observer give this man a steady corner in every issue? Do you agree with his opinions that much? Don’t you sense the hate he harbor for women when he blames every problem in the society on them? Do you support his positions on the so called “honor killings†or the Violence Against Women Act? I looked hopelessly in his writing for solutions for the problems he says our societies face and found none. His website was disappointing too. Who is he? Why don’t you use your paper for more useful writings by reasonable, wise intelligent writers instead of this extreme man who keeps complaining about the other gender?
