By Nilofar Suhrawardy, MMNS India Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Ironically, though Mumbai-siege was not the first time that Indians have fallen victim to terrorists, the issue has many firsts linked with it. It is for the first time that the rich and the foreigners, particularly the British, Americans and Jews, have been specifically targeted, in addition to common Indians. Terrorist-incidents have earlier in the year been marked primarily by serial blasts in Malegaon (September 29), Delhi (September 13), Bangalore (July 25), Ahemdabad (July 26) and Jaipur (May 13), affecting largely the middle and lower-middle classes. Though India has time and again held militant groups based in Pakistan responsible for terrorist incidents taking place here, in the recent years, it is for the first time that Indian leaders are repeatedly talking about the same in loud tones. “Pakistan must keep its situation under control. There are people there who are always ready to carry out bloody attacks against our country,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said while addressing an election rally in India-occupied Kashmir (December 14). He also expressed India’s willingness to normalize ties with Pakistan, provided it disallows use of its territory for terrorist attacks against India. “All issues including Jammu and Kashmir can be resolved through dialogue,” Singh said.

It is for the first time that Prime Minister Singh has extended apology for the failure of his government to prevent terror strikes the people here have fallen victim to.  Addressing the Lower House of the Parliament (Lok Sabha) at the end of a daylong debate focusing on Mumbai-issue, Singh said: “On behalf of the government, I would like to apologize to our people for the fact that these dastardly acts could not be prevented.” Referring specifically to Mumbai terror-strikes, he said: “It was a very calculated and sinister attack, intended to cause widespread terror and damage to image of India. The forces behind these attacks wanted to destabilize our secular polity, create communal discord and undermine our country’s economic and social progress” (December 11).

The same day, Parliament unanimously passed a resolution, with both Houses expressing their “unequivocal condemnation of heinous terrorist attacks in Mumbai by terrorist elements from Pakistan, claiming hundreds of innocent lives and seeking to destroy values that India stands for.” Asserting that India shall not “cease her efforts until terrorists” are “exposed and brought to justice,” the resolution stated, the country “shall firmly counter all evil designs against its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “the ideal of a secular and democratic India shall prevail.”

The government has been forced to acknowledge for the first time that security lapses were responsible for a handful of militants being able to hold life in Mumbai at stake. While making a statement in the Parliament, Home Minister P. Chidambaram admitted that there were “gaps” in the intelligence set-up, because of which the government will take steps to insulate the country from Mumbai-like terror strikes. “Intelligence gathering requires human resources and technical resources. We have identified the gaps,” he said. With there being evidence on involvement of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Mumbai-terror attacks, Chidambaram said: “The finger of suspicion points to the territory of our neighbor, Pakistan.”

The Mumbai-carnage is also the first one to have cost quite a few prominent politicians their ministerial berths. Chidambaram, earlier the Finance Minister, has taken charge as Home Minister after Shivraj Patil resigned as the Home Minister over the Mumbai-issue. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil also had to hand in their resignations over the Mumbai-carnage. While National Security Adviser (NSA) M.K. Narayanan too offered to resign, he remains in office.

Politicians keen to exploit Mumbai-terror strikes to their advantage have realized for the first time that the Indian voter is far more smarter than they earlier perceived him to be. This is marked by results of assembly elections in five states, announced last week (December 8), having proved contrary to expectations of those keen to play on communal politics. While the Congress has retained its hold on Delhi, it has wrested Rajasthan from BJP and has returned to power in Mizoram after 10 years. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has returned to power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Stunned at Congress winning for the record third term in Delhi, BJP president Rajnath Singh said: “In Delhi, the results were quite unexpected and shocking.” Singh acknowledged that high-pitch efforts made by BJP to turn the people against the Congress over the Mumbai-issue had failed. “Local issues were given more importance, and voters it seems had already made up their mind (who to vote for),” he said.

The results suggest that Indian voters have rejected BJP’s policies based on communalism and terrorism, according to left bloc. “It is a huge setback for BJP’s divisive politics,” S. Ramachandran Pillai of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said. “The people do not appreciate the BJP’s politics based on communalism and terrorism. The election results also give a clear message to the Congress that the people are not happy with their economic policies,” D. Raja of Communist Party of India (CPI) said.

“It shows the maturity of our democracy and the depth of the democratic aspirations of the people of our country. Politicians should realize that people’s emotions on issues like terrorism and communalism cannot be politicized,” Mohammed Salim (CPI-M) said.

Development agenda has assured Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s (BJP) return to power for the second term. In Chhattisgarh too, BJP’s return to power under Chief Minister Raman Singh rests on development agenda.

Equally significant is the Mumbai-terror attacks having convinced the Indians that it is for them to join hands, cutting across religious differences, to let external and/or internal elements responsible for such incidents know that they (Indians) remain a strong and united forces. Though Muslims across the nation celebrated Eid-Al-Adha (December 9) with traditional religious fervor, the Mumbai-impact was sensed with there being somber note in the celebrations and security strengthened across the country. Many devotees were seen sporting black bands on their arms as their condemnation of terrorist strikes in Mumbai. “Festivities are on a low-key, because of the Mumbai-incident,” a cleric at Jama Masjid said. Besides, it is for the first time that Indians across the world have displayed their feelings for Mumbai victims and heroes by lighting candles in their memory and forming human chains to display their protest and also unity.

10-52, MMNS

By Syed Aslam, science@muslimobserver.com

Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi  was born in Balkh,  present-day Afghanistan in the year 1207 CE.  His father, Bahauddin Balad, was a well-known  jurist, Islamic theologian and mystic; he was descended from Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra), the “second of the two in the cave,” mentioned in Qur`an and the closest Companion of the Holy Prophet (s). He became known as ‘Rumi’ because his father  moved to Anatolia, once the base of the eastern Roman empire, now Turkey.

Rumi’s childhood was a period of remarkable social and political turbulence. It was an era of the crusades; also the area where Rumi lived was under constant threat of Mongol invasion. The great upheavals Rumi faced during his life are said to have influenced much of his poetry.  Rumi and his family traveled extensively in Muslim lands. His family left his birth-place of Balkh for Baghdad, to Mecca, Damascus and  to Malatia, in western  Turkey. Later, his father finally moved to Konya, northwest Turkey, at the invitation of the Seljuk sultan.

Here at Konya, Rumi’s father became the head of a learning institution and when he died, Rumi inherited his position. Now Rumi preached in the mosques of Konya and taught his adherents at the madrasa. During this period, Rumi also traveled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there. It was his meeting at Damascus with the dervish Shams Tabrizi that completely changed Rumi’s life. Shams met Rumi in a very mysterious way, both men were talking one night when Shams was called to the back door, he went out, never to be seen again.  Rumi  went out searching for Shams and journeyed again and again to Damascus where he realized:

Why should I seek? I am the same as He. His essence speaks through me.

I have been looking for myself!

It is said that Rumi, after meeting Shams, spontaneously composed poetry for ten years, and the collection of the poetry was named after Shams in his honor. He  lived all his life at Konya teaching and composing poetry, till he died in the year 1273 CE.  A mausoleum was built in his honor by the Seljuk king, and next to the mausoleum there is a mosque built by the Ottoman prince who was an ardent admirer of Rumi.

Jalaluddin Rumi is one of the world’s most revered mystical poets; he was also a philosopher, jurist and a mystic. During his lifetime he produced a prolific range of inspiring and devotional poetry, which beautifully expresses  the union of man with the divine. These timeless classics have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, as Rumi has become one of the most popular poets of the west. Although Rumi was a Sufi and a great scholar of the Qur`an, his appeal reaches across religious and social divisions. Even during his lifetime he was noted for his cosmopolitan outlook.

Rumi’s poetry can be divided into various categories: Ghazal or odes, the quatrains or Rubayāt and Masnavi or couplets. His first book, Diwan Shams Tabrizi, contains Rumi’s poems in several different styles of Eastern-Islamic poetry. It is a collection 40,000 verses of Ghazals and lyric poems–a masterpiece of wisdom and eloquence–considered one of the greatest works of Persian literature. 

Rumi’s major work is the Masnavi, a six-volume poetry book containing some fifty thousand verses; some went too far ane even called it “the Persian-language Qur`an.” It can justifiably be considered the greatest spiritual masterpiece ever written by a human being. Its content includes the full spectrum of life on earth, every kind of human activity: religious, cultural, political, every kind of human character form the vulgar to the refined. It has specific details of the natural world, history and geography. It is also a book that presents the vertical dimension of life–from this mundane world of desire, to the most sublime levels of metaphysics and cosmic awareness. It is its completeness that attracts readers so much.

Rumi’s book Fihi Ma Fihi  provides a record of seventy talks and lectures given by Rumi on various occasions to his disciples. An other book  Majales-e Saba  contains  sermons  or lectures given in different assemblies. The sermons themselves give a commentary on the deeper meaning of religion. The sermons also include Makatib, the book containing Rumi’s letters in Persian to his disciples, family members, and men of influence.

The teachings of Rumi are universal in nature; for him, religion was mostly a personal experience and not limited to logical arguments, as his  couplets suggests.  
I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not.

I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there.

I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went very far but God I found not.

Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there.

Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else.

Shahram Shiva is a performance poet, award-winning translator and Rumi scholar who migrated to the US from Iran at an early age. Shiva is the only major presenter in the West who performs Rumi’s poetry in English and the original Persian verses.  The great mystical poet is celebrated with Shiva’s unique and passionate recitations of the timeless poetry performed with various musical groups, he says about Rumi:

“Rumi is able to verbalize the highly personal and often confusing world of personal/spiritual growth and mysticism in a very forward and direct fashion. He does not offend anyone, and he includes everyone. The world of Rumi is neither exclusively the world of a Sufi Muslim, nor the world of a Hindu, nor a Jew, nor a Christian; it is the highest state of a human being; a fully evolved human. A complete human is not bound by cultural limitations; he touches every one of us. Today, Rumi’s poems can be heard in churches, synagogues, Zen monasteries, as well as in the downtown New York.”

Rumi’s poetry have made a deep impact on the philosophy, literature and culture throughout central Asia and to some extent the Islamic world. His message seems to have inspired a lot of intellectuals, including Dr. Allama Iqbal who considered him to be his spiritual leader. His poetry forms the basis of much of the classical music of Iran and Afghanistan, which has been translated into many world languages including Japanese and Chinese.

In the year 2007 UNESCO celebrated the eight hundredth anniversary of Rumi’s birth, and issued a medal in his name to engage people in the dissemination of Rumi’s ideas and ideals.  

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Muslims: Make Muslims Accountable

By Dr. Aslam Abdullah, TMO Editor-in-chief

Last month in Afghanistan, two men on a motorcycle hurled acid at a group of eight Afghan schoolgirls in a shocking attack that is making headlines around the world. The girls were walking to Mirwaiz Minna Girl’s School in broad daylight in Kandahar when the attack occurred.

Three of the eight girls were hospitalized with serious burns and others have been treated and released. At least two of the girls still in hospital were blinded. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi has denied that his group was involved.

In Palestine, a hitherto unknown group calling itself the Just Swords of Islam issued a warning to Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip that they must wear the hijab or face being targeted.

In pamphlets distributed in various parts of Gaza, the group also said its followers threw acid at the face of a young woman who was dressed "immodestly" in the center of Gaza City. They also destroyed a car belonging to a young man who was playing his radio too loudly.

Addressing female students, the group said: "We will have no mercy on any woman who violates the traditions of Islam and who also hang out in Internet cafes."

According to the group, its members used rocket-propelled grenades to attack 12 Internet cafes and a number of music shops in different parts of the Gaza Strip.

It said the places were targeted because they were "distracting an entire generation of Palestinians from their duty to worship [Allah] and jihad so that they could serve their Zionist masters and the Crusaders.”

Where is the Muslim outrage at all this? Why has no known religious scholar not condemned it? Why is this silence on the part of those who present Islam as a peaceful religion? Why have those Muslim women’s organizations who were championing the case of Mukhtaran Bai, a gang rape victim in Pakistan, been so silent?

Doubtless, what was done by a group of insane fanatics deserves to be condemned by every Muslim of conscience. No one can justify these despicable attacks—not under any interpretation of Islam. Those who do these things are against Islam, and have crossed all limits in expressing their anger at something they disapprove of.

Our religious scholars, so quick to issue fatwas on almost every issue, have still to denounce these attackers who are targeting women because their behavior and attitude does not conform to their distorted view of Islam.

Let us be clear on this issue. Islam has no place for such an action. A genuine Muslim authority would punish these vicious vigilantes.

Why is it that women have to bear the brunt of the wrath of a few holier-than-thou people? No matter what we say, the fact is that there are some elements within the Muslim community who assign a lower and inferior status to women. They distort the teachings of Islam as explained in the Qur`an and the Sunna of the Prophet (s) to serve their own agenda.

They believe a woman must stay at home. They demand that women not be equal partners in the reconstruction of Muslim society. They do not like their women to acquire education, and they insist that women are born crooked and can never be a constructive force in the Muslim community.

Their ideas distort everything that Islam stands for. Their views project a male chauvinistic attitude displayed through human history by those who believe that man are created superior because of their physical and intellectual strength. Even though Islam declared openly and clearly that "If men are capable of submitting to the will of Allah, so are women; if men are capable of developing a conviction in the supremacy of Allah, so are women; if men can be devout to Allah, so can women; if men can be true to their word, so can women; if men can be patient in adversity, so can women; if men can humble themselves before Allah, so can women; and if men can give charity, so can women; if men are capable of controlling their chastity, so are women; and if men can remember Allah unceasingly, so can women. Indeed for all of them Allah has readied forgiveness of sins and a mighty reward."

Al-Ahzab:35

With such a charter of equal responsibilities and rights, how can anyone claiming to be a Muslim dare to demean women? Indeed, a true commitment to Islam demands that these kinds of acts should be condemned in the loudest possible voice. Not only that, but such people should be brought to justice through severe punishment, and boycotted until they return to their sanity. Both men and women have been asked by Allah the Creator to maintain a higher level of modesty in their behavior and attire. People do not have a right to punish the deviants on the basis of their understanding of Islam. They may chastise people who deviate in a manner that is approved by the Qur`an, but they cannot take the law into their own hands.

Ati Ullah wa Atiur Rasul, wa ulul amri minkum

Obey Allah, Obey Prophet (s), and obey those in authority

An-Nisa:59

Therefore a Muslim cannot just do whatever he wants outside of the laws of those in authority, not to mention that it is a crime against Allah and to His Prophet (s) to abuse the community of the Holy Prophet (s) in such a terrible and vicious manner.

Islam demands the supremacy of law and takes a stand against anarchy. For instance, in almost every Muslim county, the act of theft is committed daily, yet no one is allowed to take the law into one’s hand to chop off the hand of a thief.

What was done in Afghanistan and Palestine is no more than an act of anarchy and vicious mistreatment against people who do not conform to very strict and ill-considered ideals of cruel people who are ignorant about Islam.

This anarchy must not be tolerated, and we beg those in authority, whether the religious leaders or the political authorities, to put an end to such unbridled and terrible actions.

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Courtesy The Economist

Hamtramck–Home to the auto industry—and American Islam

THE gym at Bridge Academy is full of children playing floor hockey. Boys and girls squeal as they chase the puck; a helpless teacher looks on. A homely American scene, except that most girls wear the hijab. This is Hamtramck, a town within the borders of Detroit, where the Muslim factor plays big in local politics.

In America as a whole, the fate of Muslims differs confusingly from the situation in Europe. American Muslims are in many ways better integrated and more successful. The constitutional right to freedom of religion protects their right to build mosques. But many report a recent rise in anti-Muslim prejudice, especially in parts of America where Islam is a little-known “other”. Greater Detroit is different; Islam is a formidable force in public affairs. Michigan’s first Muslim state legislator served in the 1960s. The first female Muslim legislator was elected last month. In Hamtramck, two out of six counselors are Muslim.

South-east Michigan has the country’s highest concentration of Arab Americans, about 40% of whom are Muslim. The first migrants were lured by the car industry. Now the region’s Muslim population, estimated to be at least 150,000, includes not just people of Arab descent but African-Americans and immigrants from Bangladesh and Albania.

Social solidarity has helped Muslims to thrive. The Arab Community Centre for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) has become a national model, offering succour to people of all faiths. The hub of Muslim activity is in Dearborn, west of Detroit: this is the home of ACCESS and of an Islamic Centre whose giant mosque dwarfs nearby churches. Two McDonalds outlets serve halal McNuggets. European officials often visit Dearborn to see its success, says Ahmad Chebbani, a civic leader.

Meanwhile Hamtramck (population 26,000) is changing from a Polish enclave into a growing Muslim one. Schools now compete for Muslim students, says Sally Howell of the University of Michigan. Mohamad Issa, who founded Bridge Academy and seven other charter schools, says his establishments are not religious; they can’t be, as they get public money. But Muslims like the Arabic classes, days off for Muslim holidays and space for voluntary prayers. Detroit’s public schools struggle to catch up; some offer Arabic classes and halal food.

Muslims in Detroit, thanks to strong institutions and numbers, feel better than elsewhere in America, though they still face prejudice, say Ms Howell and Amaney Jamal of Princeton University in a joint study. And no less than in Europe, local politics fosters odd alliances. Last month, Catholics induced Muslims in Hamtramck to vote down a gay-rights ordinance. Both there and in Detroit, Muslims and Latinos have co-operated to restrict racial profiling.

The familiar American saying that “all politics is local”—coined by the late Tip O’Neill—is often taken to mean that defence contracts have as much to do with aerospace jobs as with security. But the Irish-American’s adage also has some relevance to questions of faith.

10-51, reprint

Courtesy Matt Peckham, PC Magazine

The BBC reports that a trial version of Muxlim Pal, a virtual community catering to Muslims, is officially open for business. Don’t confuse it with the actual Second Life, however. It’s not a wraparound 3D virtual world, but more a series of isometric areas linked together, kind of like The Sims.

Muxlim Pal is the newest facet of web network Muxlim.com, which describes itself as “enhancing the Muslim lifestyle.” It’s vision, reads the site’s “about” page, is to “connect Muslim communities to each other, and to the wider world, through shared online experiences.” The site claims “tens of million[s] of users visit Muxlim every year, to enhance their Muslim lifestyle and enjoy a friendly social experience.”

In Muxlim Pal, users create an avatar (or “pal”) and interact with each other more or less the way they would in other social-tilted virtual worlds. You can visit bars, office spaces, shopping malls, outdoor concert venues, and gift shops, offering (or receiving) items and pausing to chat with others.

The interface is disarmingly simple, just a chat bar for inputting text and three colorful, stylish buttons labeled “navigation,” “inventory,” and “wallet.” The navigation button lets you warp to different parts of the world. When you arrive in an area, you simply click where you want to move. While it’s not a game, it does have a few game-like qualities, like “happiness, fitness, knowledge and spirituality” ratings that fluctuate depending on your activities.

According to the Beeb, it’s specifically aimed at Muslims living in Western nations, but also “anyone who is remotely interested in the Muslim culture and the Muslim lifestyle,” says Muxlim.com founder Mohamed El-Fatatry.

The creators claim Muxlim.com is not a religious site, though its tagline reads “enhancing the Muslim lifestyle.” There’s certainly a religious angle here that you won’t find in other MMOs: You can literally kneel on prayer mats and presumably face in whatever direction the simulation defines as Mecca-ward.

Muxlim Pal is also part of a pretty rarefied religious-themed club. Scan around and you’ll find rumblings about Christian MMOs, like Visions (work in progress) and Lions of Judah (not an MMO, but calling itself “a strong Christian MMORPG community”). Otherwise there’s a curious dearth of religious-themed MMOs, which seems slightly odd when you consider 82% of adults in the U.S. said their religious preference was Christian in a 2002 Pew survey.

10-51, reprint

Courtesy Sherwood Ross

Since it invaded Iraq in 2003, the U.S. has detained thousands of juveniles—some of whom were tortured and sexually abused, according to published reports. Figures of the number of children behind bars vary. Some estimates put the number as high as 6,000.

While the criminal abuse of male prisoners at Abu Ghraib is well known, child and women prisoners held there have also been tortured and raped, according to Neil Mackay of Glasgow’s “Sunday Herald.” Abu Ghraib prison is located about 20 miles west of Baghdad.

Iraqi lawyer Sahar Yasiri, representing the Federation of Prisoners and Political Prisoners, said in a published interview there are more than 400,000 detainees in Iraq being held in 36 prisons and camps and that 95 percent of the 10,000 women among them have been raped.

Children, he said, “suffer from torture, rape, (and) starvation” and do not know why they have been arrested. He added the children have been victims of “random” arrests “not based on any legal text.”

Former prisoner Thaar Salman Dawod in a witness statement said, “(I saw) two boys naked and they were cuffed together face to face and (a US soldier) was beating them and a group of guards were watching and taking pictures and there was three female soldiers laughing at the prisoners.”

Iraqi TV reporter, Suhaib Badr-Addin al-Baz, arrested while making a documentary and thrown into Abu Ghraib for 74 days, told Mackay he saw “hundreds” of children there. Al-Baz said he heard one 12-year-old girl crying, “They have undressed me. They have poured water over me.” He said he heard her whimpering daily.

Al-Baz also told of a 15-year-old boy “who was soaked repeatedly with hoses until he collapsed.” Amnesty International said ex-detainees reported boys as young as 10 are held at Abu Ghraib.

German TV reporter Thomas Reutter of “Report Mainz” quoted U.S. Army Sgt. Samuel Provance that interrogation specialists “poured water” over one 16-year-old Iraqi boy, drove him throughout a cold night, “smeared him with mud” and then showed him to his father, who was also in custody. Apparently, one tactic employed by the Bush regime is to elicit confessions from adults by dragging their abused children in front of them.

The Los Angeles Times as far back as August 26, 2004, reported U.S. military police at Abu Ghraib “used Army dogs to play a bizarre game in which they scared teenage detainees into defecating and urinating on themselves.”

And reporter Hersh told the American Civil Liberties Union convention he has seen videotapes of Iraqi boys that were sodomized, “and the worst part is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking.”

Jonathan Steele, wrote in the British “The Guardian” this past Sept. 9th, “Hundreds of children, some as young as nine, are being held in appalling conditions in Baghdad’s prisons, sleeping in sweltering temperatures in overcrowded cells, without working fans, no daily access to showers, and subject to frequent sexual abuse by guards, current and former prisoners say.” Sixteen-year-old Omar Ali told the “Guardian” he spent more than three years at Karkh juvenile prison sleeping with 75 boys to a cell that is just five by 10 meters, some of them on the floor. Omar told the paper guards often take boys to a separate room in the prison and rape them.

As the occupying authority in Iraq, the Bush administration cannot escape legal responsibility for the torture crimes of Iraqi jailers or for the deplorable conditions in the prisons they operate.

Raad Jamal, age 17, was taken from his Doura home by U.S. troops and turned over to the Iraqi Army’s Second regiment where Jamal said he was hung from the ceiling by ropes and beaten with electric cables.

Human Rights Watch(HRW) last June put the number of juveniles detained at 513. The grounds: they pose “imperative security risks.” In all, HRW estimates, since 2003, the U.S. has detained 2,400 children in Iraq, some as young as ten.

HRW said the children “are subject to interrogations, have no access to lawyers, and sometimes are held for more than a year without charge, in violation of the United States’ own regulations.” It said children “have very limited contact with their families.” HRW called upon the U.S. to “ensure that children it takes into custody are treated according to their status as children, and given prompt judicial review and access to independent monitors.” Apparently, this has not been the case.

Clarisa Bencomo, of HRW’s Children’s Rights Division said, “The vast majority of children detained in Iraq languish for months in U.S. military custody. The U.S. should provide these children with immediate access to lawyers and an independent judicial review of their detention.”

RIN, the humanitarian news service, last year quoted Khalid Rabia of the Iraqi NGO Prisoners’ Association for Justice(PAJ), stating: “Children are being treated as adults in Iraqi prisons and our investigations have shown that they are being abused and tortured.” IRIN was refused permission to visit child prisoners.

Five boys between 13 and 17 accused of supporting insurgents and detained by the Iraqi army “showed signs of torture all over their bodies,” such as “cigarette burns over their legs,” she said.

One boy of 13 arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 was held in solitary for more than a year at Bagram and Guantanamo and made to stand in stress position and deprived of sleep. And 15-year-old Omar Khadr, a Canadian, was held in Guantanamo for two years without being allowed to see a lawyer or have contact with his family. Khadr has been held for a total of six years. According to the current “Catholic Worker,” Mohammed Jawad was 17 when captured in Afghanistan and was subjected to sleep deprivation at Gitmo day and night for two weeks. Every three hours jailers shackled and transferred him to another cell under a “frequent flier” program, forcing him to change cells 112 times.

Jawad’s defense lawyer Air Force Major David J.R. Frakt said the most likely reason Gitmo authorities tortured the youth (who had attempted suicide five months earlier) was “for sport, to teach him a lesson, perhaps to make an example of him to others.”

Officials from UNAMI, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Iran, said that children awaiting trial at severely overcrowded Tobchi prison, Baghdad, said they had been tortured and sexually abused while in custody in adult facilities prior to their transfer to Tobchi, and showed the marks to prove it. And at Karkh juvenile prison, children showed skin sores from lying on soggy mattresses in temperatures that average 112 during the day.

Former President Jimmy Carter wrote in “Our Endangered Values”(Simon & Schuster) that the Red Cross found after visiting six U.S. prisons “107 detainees under eighteen, some as young as eight years old.” And reporter Hersh, (who broke the Abu Ghraib torture scandal,) reported 800-900 Pakistani boys aged 13 to 15 in custody. President Carter wrote that the Red Cross, Amnesty International and the Pentagon “have gathered substantial testimony of torture of children, confirmed by soldiers who witnessed or participated in the abuse.”

In an effort to conceal conditions in its Iraqi compounds, the U.S. has closed them to human rights monitors such as AI, HRW, and the International Federation of Human Rights, says Ciara Gilmartin, the Security Council Program Coordinator at Global Policy Forum(GPF), a New York-based organization that seeks to strengthen international law.

GPF called for opening the Iraqi detention facilities “to national and international observers” and for establishing clear accountability for U.S. officers and contractors in charge of the prisons.

“The whole abusive system must be thoroughly overhauled or closed down,” Gilmartin said. “U.S. military and civilian leaders are not the only ones complicit in the abuse and lack of due process of Iraqi detainees. All who stay silent in the face of the Iraq gulag allow it to continue.”

In 2005, the AP reported from Geneva that UNICEF was “profoundly disturbed” by reports of abuse of children in Iraq prisons. “Any mistreatment, sexual abuse, exploitation or torture of children in detention is a violation of international law,” UNICEF spokesman Damien Peronnaz said.

According to a report by Felicity Arbuthnot published last June 9th in Global Research, the UN Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomarswarmy, said children are not allowed any outside lawyers and may be held hostage to force an adult family male to give himself up.

HRW said that as of February of this year the length of detention for children was more than 130 days and “some children have been detained for more than a year without charge or trial, in violation of the Coalition Provisional Authority memorandum on criminal procedures.

Not surprisingly, “One of the biggest complaints (by Iraqis) is that the vast majority of (U.S.) detainees have not been charged with any crime,” David Enders writes in the October 27 issue of The Nation.

10-51, reprint

By Imam Abdullah El-Amin, MMNS

“O ye Children of Adam!  Let not Satan seduce you in the same manner as he got your parents out of the garden, stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame: for he and his tribe see you from a position where ye cannot see them.  We made the Satans’ friends (only to those without faith.”

7:27.

With the great abundance of technology available today, there is a totally new mindset and mentality, utilizing this technology prevailing in our youth.  There seems to be great difficulty in some of them even slowing down to listen to an adult when the adult is speaking.  The personal interaction that was the norm when most adults were growing up has been replaced with videos, wi-fi, internet, and other electronics.  But when I was coming up we played baseball, basketball, ran, and other physical activities.  This allowed us to interact with other human beings.  Nowadays, it’s just them and the computer.  No need for human interaction. But since we are gregarious human animals, some human contact is necessary; so hip-hop rapping in a group has become a popular form of expression.

Recently we were returning from a road trip to the annual MANA (Muslim Alliance in North America) convention.  MANA is group led by nationally known Muslim leader Siraj Wahhaj as the Amir.  We were on a chartered bus with 49 0r 50 mostly young people on it.

Anyway, a group of young men in the back decided they wanted to do some rapping, which is fine.  Young people must be allowed to expend the tremendous amounts of energy they have so I had to grin and bear the “Rap Show” I was trapped in by the confines of the bus.  To be sure, this hip-hop rap generation is universal because this group was made up of Pakistani, African-American, and Arab young men, all equally skilled.  (At least the hip-hop generation has unity, regardless of ethnicity or cultural background.) 

All was going well until a young man of Arabic descent slipped up and said a curse word while “rapping.”  He seemed to have forgotten where he was – on a bus filled with Muslims.    When I checked him about the profanity, he came up with some hair-brained excuse that he would be hypocritical if he used profanity with his friends and didn’t use it with me.  The point of respecting your elders did not compute with him.  It wasn’t until much later, after additional prodding by his peers, that he finally realized (or admitted) that he was wrong.

My point is that this generation of today seems to be taken in and mesmerized by the negative satanic environment permeating our society.  That group of boys had become so hypnotized by what they were doing that they unaware of others’ presence on the bus.  This is very dangerous to their psyche and it underscores the urgency and importance of leaders and parents first setting good examples, and then not allowing our offspring and followers to exhibit negative behavior they learn outside the home or mosque, at least not in our presence.

It is imperative that we, as Muslims be strong and steadfast in promoting the positive, morally-conscious message loved by ALLAH.  We must consciously refrain from following the negative vibes of society.  We must show them what they are actually looking and longing for; and that is a peaceful, positive, productive life which can only be had by adhering to the dictates of our Creator; Who knows us best.

I hear often some people say that copying what they see and hear is just reflecting the “real” of society.  But this is not real.  What is real is the truth revealed by ALLAH in the scriptures.  That world of immorality is an artificial, grafted mentality generated by Satan:  And that’s exactly what he (Satan) wants you to think.

“Remember Satan made their (sinful) acts seem alluring to them, and said:”No one among men can overcome you this day, while I an near you”.  But when the two forces came in sight of each other, he turned on his heels and said, “Lo! I am clear of you; Lo! I see what ye see not; Lo! I fear ALLAH, for ALLAH is strict in punishment.” 
What is the real reality is ALLAH.  What is false and destructive is the Devil.

8:48

As Salaam alaikum
(Al Hajj) Imam Abdullah El-Amin

10-51

Courtesy Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post

Relatives of an Iraqi slain by Blackwater guards.

The federal manslaughter indictment of five Blackwater Worldwide security guards in the horrific massacre of more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad may look like an exercise in accountability, but it’s probably the exact opposite — a whitewash that absolves the government and corporate officials who should bear ultimate responsibility.

If what Justice Department prosecutors allege is true, the five guards — Donald Ball, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough — should have to answer for what happened on Sept. 16, 2007. The men, working under Blackwater’s contract to protect State Department personnel in Iraq, are charged with spraying a busy intersection with machine-gun fire and grenades, killing at least 14 unarmed civilians and wounding 20 others. One man, prosecutors said yesterday, was shot in the chest with his hands raised in submission.

The indictment, charging voluntary manslaughter and weapons violations, demonstrates that those who engage “in unprovoked attacks will be held accountable,” Assistant Attorney General Patrick Rowan claimed.

But it demonstrates nothing of the sort. As with the torture and humiliation of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison, our government is deflecting all scrutiny from the corporate higher-ups who employed the guards — to say nothing of the policymakers whose decisions made the shootings possible, if not inevitable.

Prosecutors did not file charges against the North Carolina-based Blackwater firm — the biggest U.S. security contractor in Iraq — or any of the company’s executives. The whole tragic incident is being blamed on the guards who, prosecutors say, made Baghdad’s Nisoor Square a virtual free-fire zone.

The Blackwater guards were nervous because of a car bombing elsewhere in the city that day. The company says the Blackwater convoy came under attack by insurgents, prompting the guards to fire in self-defense. “Tragically, people did die,” defense attorney Paul Cassell told reporters.

There is a huge difference between self-defense and the kind of indiscriminate fusillade that the Blackwater team allegedly unleashed. Proper training and supervision — which was the Blackwater firm’s responsibility — would have made it more likely for the guards to make the right split-second decisions amid the chaos of Nisoor Square. Rather than give Blackwater a free pass, the Justice Department ought to investigate the preparation these men were given before being sent onto Baghdad’s dangerous streets.

Blackwater no doubt has rules and regulations about when and where its people can discharge their weapons. But were those rules enforced? Did the guards who were indicted yesterday have any reason to believe they would be punished for the rampage? Or were the shootings considered acceptable inside the Blackwater bunker? Company executives should have to answer these and other questions — under oath.
But a real attempt to establish blame for this massacre should go beyond Blackwater. It was the Bush administration that decided to police the occupation of Iraq largely with private rather than regular troops.

There are an estimated 30,000 security “contractors” in Iraq, many of them there to protect U.S. State Department personnel. The presence of these heavily armed private soldiers has become a sore point between the U.S. and Iraqi governments. Until now, the mercenaries — they object to that label, but it fits — have been immune from prosecution by the Iraqi courts for any alleged crimes. This will change on Jan. 1, when the new U.S.-Iraqi security pact places them under the jurisdiction of Iraqi law. Blackwater and other firms are likely to have a harder time retaining and recruiting personnel, given the possibility of spending time in an Iraqi prison. Yet it is presumed that more private soldiers, rather than fewer, will be needed as the United States reduces troop levels.

Barack Obama has criticized the Bush administration’s decision to outsource so many essentially military tasks in Iraq and elsewhere. The officials who made that decision, however, are not being held accountable — not yet, at least. We deserve, at a minimum, a thorough investigation of what security contractors have done in the name of the United States.

Putting national security in the hands of private companies and private soldiers was bad practice from the start, and incidents such as what happened at Nisoor Square are the foreseeable result. The five Blackwater guards may have fired the weapons, but they were locked and loaded in Washington.

10-51, reprint

By Bob Wood, MMNS

So here you are, invested in the stock market and nursing big losses, like almost everyone else. Wouldn’t you love to see your investment accounts recover their previous values? With a proper recovery plan in place, there is hope. Without one, you’re flying blind and hoping on a lot of luck.

Where do you begin when formulating a plan to take advantage of a market recovery? Maybe the first question you should ask is, “Who says the stock market must reverse course and head higher?” Investors in Japan, where the home market has remained mired in a slump for nearly two decades, have learned that hard lesson.

Considering America’s current economic fundamentals, with the stock market still selling at a relatively rich level, no law insists that what goes down must, at some point, come back up. Hope for a rebound does exist here, though, even if it would most likely be one of short duration, given the value concerns. Meanwhile, investors are loading up on U.S. Treasury debt, and, as of right now, they’re lending our government, bankrupt in all but official status, money at a yield of just over 3% for 30 years!

Maybe that fact speaks more about how much money is looking for a safe home now, but, at some point, will go searching for a better return. In addition, an estimated $4 trillion is sitting in cash and money market accounts, and that will also eventually go searching for better returns.

So many mutual, hedge and pension fund managers, as well as individual investors, need a rally – desperately! Any sign of an end to all the forced selling from hedge funds will allow investors to return to stocks. History shows that, as a rule, investor sentiment affects the rising or falling of share prices more than the underlying fundamentals.

History also shows that bear market rallies can be wonderful things to experience. Three great examples are the rallies of about 50% to the upside, which were seen in the Japanese market during its 18-year secular bear market.

But lucky investors today need not rely on only one market as they try to catch a meaningful rally. Instead, we can enjoy the options of investing in many markets around the world, as well as in other asset classes — like commodities.

So, what’s the plan? Which markets will you monitor as you seek re-entry into stocks? Or should you be planning to re-allocate your investments with the hope of finding better opportunities for gain?

Before you make that move, creating a written plan can prove invaluable. It will allow you to make rational decisions ahead of time, relieving the pressure of making quick decisions when you are under the duress of possibly being wrong and losing money.

A plan also allows you to set loss limits if you guess wrongly and find yourself losing money again. You can set a limit based on losses of percentage or dollar terms.

The next step would involve selecting your asset allocations and markets or asset classes where you’ll focus your investing. This is where the plan gets complicated. Easier to do is simply building a diversified portfolio using index funds and figuring that, given today’s highly correlated markets, all ships will rise, once a recovery begins.

That method may well prove as useful as any other, since we know that there is much we cannot know in advance! Thinking that we have predictive power to foretell what the markets will do is not a viable option.

With that said, it is up to you to decide on your allocation set, and just as important, the position size for each holding. And here is where you might want to consider doing the unusual thing. And here’s where I insert my usual disclaimer telling you that whichever way you decide to go, you’re on your own!

What follows is a set of suggestions formulated by someone much smarter than I am, John Maynard Keynes, the famed economist of yore. To get a better idea of how his set of rules was devised and how to implement them, I strongly suggest that you read the same book that I read about them. That book, Keynes and the Markets written by Justyn Walsh, is a new release.

About 170 pages long, the book could well have been much shorter, given how it all boils down to Keynes’ method for investing. However, the book includes a nice story about his ups and downs in the markets, leading up to his set of rules, and shows what motivated him to search for a better way to invest.

I wish that someone had given me a condensed version of the book and saved me the time of reading all the preliminary information. So, if you’re like me, you’ll appreciate this condensed version.

In a nutshell, Keynes’ method can be broken down into six basic rules. And, as the noted investor used them, he did well during the 1930s bear market in stocks — during the Depression;

1. Focus on the estimated intrinsic value of a stock, as represented by the projected earnings of the particular security, rather than attempt to divine market trends.

2. Ensure that a sufficiently large margin of safety – the difference between a stock’s assessed intrinsic value and the price – exists in respect of purchased stocks.

3. Apply independent judgment in valuing stocks, which may often imply a contrarian investment policy.

4. Limit transaction costs and ignore distractions of constant price quotation by maintaining a steadfast holding of stocks.

5. Practice a policy of portfolio concentration by committing relatively large sums of capital to stock market ‘’stunners.’’

6. Maintain the appropriate temperament by balancing ‘’equanimity and patience’’ with the ability to act decisively.

So there it is, though, of course, there is much to discover in how each of those rules should be implemented. And an additional burden must be borne by each investor in applying his or her own rigorous estimation of a stock’s worth. This is something that’s hard to do, for most professionals and individual investors alike.

I appreciate the fact that Keynes used this method to invest his own money, with the associated risk of loss. However, he ignored the concept of hedging, which is a valuable consideration in today’s hyperactive markets.

Yes, he left it for us, this one set of instructions for anyone with the confidence to manage his own investments and willing to accept responsibility for his own results. Considering how far world markets have fallen, plenty of great shares are now available to consider for purchase.

But, of course, be careful. The current market environment is one of the most treacherous of all time. And consider waiting until the environment calms down before embarking on such an aggressive strategy.

Have a great week.
Bob

Bob Wood ChFC, CLU Yusuf Kadiwala. Registered Investment Advisors, KMA, Inc., invest@muslimobserver.com.

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