LONDON (Reuters) – Iran has sharply stepped up its use of public executions, hanging 13 men this year, nearly as many as in all of 2010, in an attempt to intimidate its citizens, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.
Eight of the hangings have taken place since mid-April, including two juveniles convicted for a rape and murder committed when they were 17, the human rights group said.
“It is deeply disturbing that despite a moratorium on public executions ordered in 2008, the Iranian authorities are once again seeking to intimidate people by such spectacles which not only dehumanize the victim, but brutalize those who witness it,†said Amnesty official Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.
Iran executed at least 252 people last year, 14 in public, Amnesty said.
Human rights groups often criticize Iran, saying the Islamic republic has one of the highest execution rates in the world.
Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and apostasy — the renouncing of Islam — are all punishable by death under Iran’s Islamic law practiced since the 1979 revolution.
(Reporting by Tim Castle; Editing by Maria Golovnina)
JEDDAH (Reuters) – Authorities in Saudi Arabia have detained two Shi’ite bloggers this week for taking part in demonstrations in the country’s oil-producing Eastern Province, a Shi’ite website and activists said on Wednesday.
The Sunni Muslim monarchy of Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter and major U.S. ally, does not tolerate any form of dissent. It has not seen the kind of mass uprisings other countries in the region have over the past few months.
But minority Shi’ite Muslims in the Eastern Province, who have long complained of discrimination — a charge the government denies — have staged small demonstrations, which have led to some protesters being detained.
Shi’ite website, www.rasid.com, said on Wednesday police had stormed the houses of Mustafa al-Mubarak, 26, and Hussein al-Hashem, 25, arrested them and confiscated their computers, The website also said a 58-year-old man named Samir Aldahim was also detained for taking part in the demonstrations.
A spokesperson for the Eastern Province police could not be reached for comment.
“The series of arrests are still continuing today,†said one activist who declined to be named for fear of being detained.
“Even ordinary people have been detained for taking part in demonstrations. They are summoned while at work or taken from their homes,†he said.
A Human Rights Watch report issued this month said Saudi Arabia had arrested over 160 activists since February.
“In this last week there were no less then 10 detentions, and they were all transferred to jail. Their families believe it is because they have participated in demonstrations,†the activist said.
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Editing by Sophie Hares)
Innocent people interrogated for years on slimmest pretexts
Children, elderly and mentally ill among those wrongfully held
172 prisoners remain, some with no prospect of trial or release
By David Leigh, James Ball, Ian Cobain and Jason Burke
More than 700 leaked secret files on the Guantánamo detainees lay bare the inner workings of America’s controversial prison camp in Cuba.
The US military dossiers, obtained by the New York Times and the Guardian, reveal how, alongside the so-called “worst of the worstâ€, many prisoners were flown to the Guantánamo cages and held captive for years on the flimsiest grounds, or on the basis of lurid confessions extracted by maltreatment.
The 759 Guantánamo files, classified “secretâ€, cover almost every inmate since the camp was opened in 2002. More than two years after President Obama ordered the closure of the prison, 172 are still held there.
The files depict a system often focused less on containing dangerous terrorists or enemy fighters, than on extracting intelligence. Among inmates who proved harmless were an 89-year-old Afghan villager, suffering from senile dementia, and a 14-year-old boy who had been an innocent kidnap victim.
The old man was transported to Cuba to interrogate him about “suspicious phone numbers†found in his compound. The 14-year-old was shipped out merely because of “his possible knowledge of Taliban…local leadersâ€
The documents also reveal:
US authorities listed the main Pakistani intelligence service, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), as a terrorist organisation alongside groups such as al-Qaida, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iranian intelligence.
Interrogators were told to regard links to any of these as an indication of terrorist or insurgent activity.
Almost 100 of the inmates who passed through Guantánamo are listed by their captors as having had depressive or psychotic illnesses. Many went on hunger strike or attempted suicide.
A number of British nationals and residents were held for years even though US authorities knew they were not Taliban or al-Qaida members.
One Briton, Jamal al-Harith, was rendered to Guantánamo simply because he had been held in a Taliban prison and was thought to have knowledge of their interrogation techniques. The US military tried to hang on to another Briton, Binyam Mohamed, even after charges had been dropped and evidence emerged he had been tortured.
US authorities relied heavily on information obtained from a small number of detainees under torture. They continued to maintain this testimony was reliable even after admitting that the prisoners who provided it had been mistreated.
The files also show that a large number of the detainees who have left Guantanamo were designated “high risk†by the camp authorities before their release or transfer to other countries. . . .
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s rebel-held city of Misrata won no respite from two months of bitter siege as Muammar Gaddafi’s forces bombarded the city and battled rebel fighters, despite pulling out of the city center.
Gaddafi’s forces were also pounding Berber towns in Libya’s Western Mountains with artillery, rebels and refugees said, in a remote region far from the view of international media.
Italy said its warplanes would join the British and French bombing of Libyan targets for the first time and NATO flattened a building inside Gaddafi’s Tripoli compound, in what his officials said was a failed attempt on the Libyan leader’s life.
Late on Monday, the “crusader aggressors†bombed civilian and military sites in Bir al Ghanam, 100 km (60 miles) south of Tripoli, and the Ayn Zara area of the capital, causing casualties, Libyan television said, without giving details. A Reuters correspondent heard explosions in Tripoli.
The report said foreign ships had also attacked and severed the al-Alyaf cable off Libya’s coast, cutting communications to the towns of Sirte, Ras Lanuf and Brega.
But more than a month of air strikes did not appear to be tipping the balance decisively in a conflict increasingly described as a stalemate.
People in Misrata emerged from homes after daybreak on Monday to scenes of devastation after Gaddafi’s forces pulled back from the city under cover of blistering rocket and tank fire, said witnesses contacted by phone.
Nearly 60 people had been killed in clashes in the city in the last three days, residents told Reuters by phone.
Although rebels’ celebrations of “victory†on Saturday turned out to be very premature, it was clear they had inflicted significant losses on government forces in Misrata.
“Bodies of Gaddafi’s troops are everywhere in the streets and in the buildings. We can’t tell how many. Some have been there for days,†said rebel Ibrahim.
Rebel spokesman Abdelsalam, speaking late on Monday, said Gaddafi’s forces were trying to re-enter the Nakl Thaqeel Road, which leads to Misrata’s port, its lifeline to the outside.
“Battles continue there. We can hear explosions,†he said by phone. He said Gaddafi’s forces positioned on the western outskirts of the city had also shelled the road from there.
Another rebel spokesman, Sami, said the humanitarian situation was worsening rapidly.
“It is indescribable. The hospital is very small. It is full of wounded people, most of them are in critical condition,†he told Reuters by phone.
U.S. officials said relief groups were rotating doctors into Misrata and evacuating migrant workers.
Mark Bartolini, director of foreign disaster assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, said aid organizations were aiming to create stocks of food in the region in case Libyan supply chains began breaking down.
Among the places in particular need of food aid were isolated towns in the Western Mountains, from where tens of thousands of people have fled to Tunisia from the fighting.
REFUGEES FLEE MOUNTAINS
“Our town is under constant bombardment by Gaddafi’s troops. They are using all means. Everyone is fleeing,†said one refugee, Imad, bringing his family out of the mountains.
NATO said its attack on the building in the Gaddafi compound was on a communications headquarters used to coordinate attacks on civilians. A Libyan spokesman said Gaddafi was unharmed and state television showed pictures of him meeting people in a tent, which it said had been taken on Monday.
Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam said the Libyan government would not be cowed.
“The bombing which targeted Muammar Gaddafi’s office today … will only scare children. It’s impossible that it will make us afraid or give up or raise the white flag,†he was quoted as saying by the state news agency, Jana.
Italy said its warplanes would join British and French aircraft in carrying out bombing of Libya. Geographically the closest major NATO member state to Libya, Italy had until Monday provided bases and reconnaissance and monitoring aircraft only.
The surprise decision immediately opened a fissure in Italy’s coalition government.
The African Union held separate talks on Monday with Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi and rebel representatives in Addis Ababa to discuss a ceasefire plan.
The rebels had earlier rebuffed an AU plan because it did not entail Gaddafi’s departure, while the United States, Britain and France say there can be no political solution until the Libyan leader leaves power.
(Additional reporting by Guy Desmond and Maher Nazeh in Tripoli, Alexander Dziadosz in Benghazi and Sami Aboudi in Cairo; writing by Andrew Roche; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Kerim Kerimov was born in the year 1917 in a Muslim family of an engineering background in Baku, Azerbaijan then part of the Russia. After graduation from the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute in 1942, he continued his education at Dzerzhinsky Artillery Academy, where he committed himself to design and development of rocket systems. An expert in rocket technology, he worked during World War II on the inspection and acceptance of the famous Katyusha rocket launchers. His work was honored with the Order of the Red Star. After his retirement in 1991 he worked as a Consultant to the Main Space Flights Control Center of the Russian Federal Space Agency. General Kerim Kerimov died March 29, 2003 in Moscow, at the age of 85.
Kerim Kerimov was one the great rocket scientist of the Soviet Union and he is considered as the father of Soviet Rocketry. He was one of the lead architects behind the string of Soviet successes that stunned the world from the late 1950s – from the launch of the first satellite, the Sputnik in 1957. The first human spaceflight, Yuri Gagarin’s 108-minute trip around the globe aboard the Vostok in 1961, the first fully automated space docking of Cosmos 186 and Cosmos 188 in 1967. He also involved in building the first space stations, the Salyut and Mir series from 1971 to 1991. Kerim Kerimov was involved in Soviet aeronautics from its inception. After World War II, Kerimov worked on the Soviet inter-continental ballistic missile program, rising by 1960 to head the Missile Weapons Program. Along with other rocketry experts, he was sent to Germany in 1946 to collect information on the German V-2 rocket. In 1964 he became head of the newly formed Central Directorate of the Space Forces of the USSR Ministry of Defense. Following the death of Sergei Korolev in 1966, Kerimov was appointed Chairman of the State Commission on Piloted Flights and remained Chairman for 25 years . He supervised every stage of development and operation of both manned space complexes as well as unmanned interplanetary stations for former Soviet Union. Kerimov was also the Head of Chief Directorate of the Ministry of General Machine Building in 1965-1974, which was engaged in creation of rocket systems.
As in the case of other Soviet space pioneers, the Soviet authorities for many years refused to disclose Kerimov’s identity to the public. At televised space launchings, cameras always focused on the cosmonauts and not the person to whom they reported their readiness to carry out the mission. Kerimov was a secret general, he was always hidden from the camera’s view; only his voice was broadcast. Until 1987, even Azerbaijanis did not know that the man holding the Number One position in aerospace was an Azerbaijani Muslim. His name remained a secret until era of glasnost in Soviet Union, when he was first mentioned in Pravda newspaper in 1987.
He wrote a book; The Way to Space, a history of the Soviet space program in which he describes the entire birth and development of the aerospace industry of the former Soviet Union. Kerim Kerimov was a Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of Stalin, Lenin and State prizes of the Soviet Union..
(Reuters) – Here are details of ships still held by Somali pirates after pirates said on Sunday they had released the Greek-owned MV Eagle.
The Eagle was seized last January en route to India from Jordan. It had a crew of 24 Filipinos.
* SOCOTRA 1: Seized on December 25, 2009 in the Gulf of Aden. Yemeni-owned ship had six Yemeni crew.
* ICEBERG 1: Seized on March 29, 2010. Roll-on roll-off vessel captured 10 miles from Aden. Crew of 24.
* JIH-CHUN TSAI 68: Taiwanese fishing vessel seized on March 30. Crew of 14: Taiwanese captain, two Chinese and 11 Indonesians.
* Three Thai fishing vessels — PRANTALAY 11, 12 and 14 — hijacked on April 17-18. Total of 77 crew.
* SUEZ: Seized on August 2. Panama-flagged cargo ship hijacked in the Gulf of Aden. Carrying cement. Crew of 23 all from Egypt, 1akistan, Sri Lanka and India.
* OLIB G: Seized on September 8. Maltese-flagged merchant vessel with 18 crew — 15 Georgians, three Turks.
* CHOIZIL: Seized on October 26. South-African-owned yacht was hijacked after leaving Dar es Salaam. European Union anti-piracy task force rescued one South African but two other crew members were taken ashore and held as hostages.
* POLAR: Seized on Oct 30: Liberian-owned Panama-flagged 72,825-tonne tanker seized 580 miles east of Socotra. Crew of 24 — one Romanian, three Greeks, four Montenegrins, 16 Filipinos.
* YUAN XIANG: Seized on November 12. Chinese-owned cargo ship captured off Oman. Crew of 29 Chinese.
* ALBEDO: Seized on November 26. Malaysian-owned cargo vessel was taken 900 miles off Somalia as it headed for Mombasa from UAE. Crew of 23 from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran.
* PANAMA: Seized on December 10: Liberian-flagged container ship en route from Tanzania to Beira. Crew of 23 from Myanmar.
* RENUAR: Seized on December 11: Liberian-owned bulk cargo vessel, 70,156 dwt, captured en route to Fujairah from Port Louis. Crew of 24 Filipinos.
* ORNA: Seized on December 20: The Panama-flagged bulk cargo vessel, 27,915 dwt, owned by the United Arab Emirates, was seized 400 miles northeast of the Seychelles.
* SHIUH FU NO 1: Seized December 25: Somali pirates appeared to have seized the Taiwanese-owned fishing vessel near the northeast tip of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The vessel had a crew of 26 Taiwanese, Chinese and Vietnamese nationals.
* VEGA 5: Seized before December 31: Somali pirates hijacked the 140 dwt Mozambican-flagged fishing vessel about 200 miles southwest of the Comoros. There were two Spaniards, three Indonesians and 19 Mozambicans on board.
* BLIDA: Seized on January 1, 2011: The 20,586-tonne Algerian-flagged bulk carrier was seized about 150 miles southeast of Salalah, Oman. The ship, with 27 crew from Algeria, Ukraine and the Philippines, was heading to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from Salalah with a cargo of clinker.
* HOANG SON SUN: Seized on January 19: The 22,835-tonne bulk carrier, which is Mongolian flagged and Vietnamese-owned and had a crew of 24 Vietnamese nationals, was seized about 520 nautical miles southeast of the port of Muscat.
* SAVINA CAYLYN: Seized on February 8: The 104,255-dwt tanker, Italian-flagged and owned, was on passage to Malaysia from Sudan when it was attacked 670 miles east of Socotra Island. It had five Italians and 17 Indians on board.
* SININ: Seized on February 12: The Maltese owned and registered bulk carrier was seized with a crew of 13 Iranian and 10 Indian nationals in the North Arabian Sea. The 53,000 dwt vessel was on route to Singapore from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates.
* ALFARDOUS: Seized on February 13: The Yemeni fishing vessel was believed to have been pirated close to Socotra Island in the Gulf of Aden and has a crew of eight.
* DOVER: Seized on February 28: It was taken about 260 nautical miles north east of Salalah in Oman. The Panamanian flagged, Greek owned vessel was on its way to Saleef (Yemen) from Port Quasim (Pakistan) when it was attacked. The crew consists of three Romanians, one Russian and 19 Filipinos.
* SINAR KINDUS: Seized on March 16: The Indonesian flagged and owned bulk cargo carrier was pirated approximately 320 miles North East of Socotra in the Somali Basin. The ship, which carried a crew of 20, was quickly used to launch further attacks.
* ZIRKU: Seized on March 28: The UAE-flagged and Kuwaiti-owned oil tanker, bound for Singapore from Sudan, was pirated approximately 250 nautical miles South East of Salalah in the eastern part of the Gulf of Aden. The 105,846 dwt tanker carried a 29-strong crew including one Croatian, 17 Pakistanis, one Iraqi, one Filipino, one Indian, three Jordanians, three Egyptians and two Ukrainians.
* SUSAN K: Seized on April 8: The German-owned, Antigua and Barbuda-flagged vessel was traveling to Port Sudan from Mumbai in India when it was pirated 200 nautical miles northeast of Salalah, Oman. The 4,450 dwt vessel carried a crew of 10 from Ukraine and the Philippines.
* ROSALIA D’AMATO: Seized on April 21: The Italian-owned bulk carrier was captured 350 miles off the coast of Oman. The 74,500 tone bulk carrier was on its way to Bandar Imam Khomeini in Iran from Brazil with a cargo of soya. The crew consisted of six Italians and 15 Filipinos.
Microorganisms are very tiny one-celled organisms, viruses, fungi, and bacteria, and are found everywhere in the world. They are found in all living things, plants and animal. There are more microorganisms on and inside your body than there are cells that make up your entire body. Microorganisms can live in the air, on land, and in fresh or salt water environments. Some of them, pathogens, can be harmful and causes diseases, but there are some microorganisms that are needed for living things to survive.
All of the living things, plant and animal, in earth’s environmental communities of forests, deserts, tundra, water, air, and all of the rest depend on the cryptobiotic crust or microbiotic layer in the soil. This is the layer of soil that most microbes live in. These microbe communities are made up of fungi, cyanobacteria and lichens. They look like a grayish cover on the ground when they are first forming, but do form in clumps of lichen that look like little hills after about 50 years of growth.
Microorganisms also are responsible for building fertile soil for plants to grow in. Microbes stick to the roots of plants and decompose dead organic matter into food for the plant to absorb. The plants that live and grow because of the microorganisms that live on them make a home for other animals to live in. Some microorganisms make people, animals, and plants sick, but others make people well and kill the bacteria on plants that make them sick. Drug companies that make medicines use hundreds of different microorganisms to make medicines that will help cure diseases. Human waste products are broken down into safer particles by some microorganism. Scientists are always looking for new ways to use microbes.
Houston, Texas: “Sharia’a means highway (Shahrah) and in the religious sense, it is the path that takes one towards the right direction in this world, bringing tranquility in this life and will bring much joy in the life hereafter. The basic principle of Sharia’a is establishment of justice based on the universal accepted values of virtues, to keep the balance in the world.â€
These were the approximate words used to put forth some of the ideas by former Supreme Court Justice of Pakistan Honorable Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, as he spoke for over an hour at an Open Public Forum at Shahnai Restaurant Banquet Hall in Houston, on the topic of “The Role of Sharia’a Law in Modern Legal World – Useful toll or a liability?â€
“In Quran, New, & Old Testaments, we can read the story of Hadhrat Noah (Peace Be Upon him – PBUh). It is not just a fable, but a lesson for the whole humanity. There are little details given that all the human beings on right path joined the prophet to go into the ark, and then names of several animals and birds are mentioned in much specification: Why? Perhaps that is an indication from Allah SWT to mankind to live in harmony with each other. But today we are fighting furiously with each other. Are we than even worse than animals?†These were the powerful closing remarks of Mr. Ramday.
He was on a private trip to Houston, where on the insistence of his friends, he agreed to speak. More than 350 persons attended the program, including some elected County Judges, prominent attorney, lawyers, persons from Republican Party, some people from the Churches, and many expatriate Pakistanis & Muslims from various countries.
Program was emceed by Ms. Sobia Izfaz, while opening address was done by the head of three members host committee Dr. Mohammad Afsar, while another member Tahir Bhatty gave the vote of thanks. The third host committee person was Zafar Kureshi. The Q-&-A session was conducted by well-known Attorney Syed Izfar.
Famous Community Attorney Anwar-e-Qadeer, who used to be Honorable Ramday’s student, introduced the Honorable Judge.
Mr. Ramday’s presentation had several quotes from Quran, New & Old Testaments’; and the idea was to bring to light that the fundamental doctrines of all the people of faith are similar and that there is no conflict. He said that there are certain commandments of Allah SWT and sayings & conduct of Messenger Muhammad (s), which are required to be followed: Beyond them the field is open to legislate and having rulings according to ones’ society and environment.
He appealed to people of all faith to closely examine their behaviors, where at times out of emotions, they stereo-type people based on the acts of few, with whom the faith and people of faith have nothing to do with.
He tackled the issue of coexistence of people of varying backgrounds through the Medina Pact (the first constitution of an Islamic State established by Hadhrat Muhammad (s); what Quran says about people creating chaos in the world through environmental degradation and terrorism (Fasad Fil Ardh) and how with force they need to be tackled; municipal laws & Islamic principles not contradicting, child custody laws, polygamy, homosexuality (commandment of Allah SWT is there for this matter through the story of Hadhrat Lut PBUh), Separation of Church & State, etc.
“Sharia’a is kind of boogeyman in the western society. I do not know from where such fear is coming because the principles of justice and all the universal good values are part of the basics of laws made within Sharia’a. These are the same as the Ten Commandments given to Hadhrat Moses (Peace be Upon him – PBUh). There are no systems of criminal procedure courts, etc. prescribed by Quran, etc. So the systems of corpus duress get evolved by societies according to their set-ups and environment. There are certain commandments given by Allah SWT through Quran and life of Messenger Muhammad PBUh, which cannot be violated. Other than that Sharia’a and municipal laws can exist together. I was part of a Judiciary Review Board of Pakistan Sharia’a Court, where three court judges & two established scholars did an extensive assessment for almost five years of all the Brisitsh & other manmade laws in subcontinent since 1841: They all were studied word to word and nothing of substance was found in them that was unIslamic, since the values are universal. No faith will ask people to commit crimes. Few things where the spirit of Islam was missing was for instance in the punishment of the crime of murder. What was missing is now part of Pakistan’s law and that is if the people of the deceased pardon the murderer with or without compensation, the court has to nullify the punishment of death or life imprisonment penalty,†added Honorable Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday.
Recorded DVD and CD copies of the program are available. For that call 832-419-0302.
Justice Ramday is most widely considered to be one of the most independent minded judges Pakistan has ever produced. He was born in Lahore on January 13, 1945 in the famous Ramday Arain family of (Late) Justice Mr. Muhammad Siddique as the fifth child and the third son. The family is known for outspoken and principled stances throughout its history. His late brother Chaudhary Muhammad Farooq has been recognized as a powerful and courageous Attorney General of Pakistan. His younger brother Chaudhary Asad-ur-Rehman, a politician, was elected as a Member of the National Assembly three times on a PML-N ticket and served as a Federal minister as well.
The traumatic experience of the Crusades gave Europe its cultural awareness and its unity; but this same experience was destined henceforth also to provide the false colour in which Islam was to appear to Western eyes ..
By Muhammad Asad
Muhammad Asad, Leopold Weiss, was born in Livow, Austria (later Poland) in 1900, and at the age of 22 made his first visit to the Middle East.
After his conversion to Islam he traveled and worked throughout the Muslim world, from North Africa to as far East as Afghanistan. After years of devoted study he became one of the leading Muslim scholars of our age.
Following is an excerpt from the introduction to his book “The Road to Mecca†in which he outlines a discussion about the root causes of bias against Islam and the Muslim world in the West with a non-Muslim friend. He describes his friend as “an American friend of mine – a man of considerable intellectual attainments and a scholarly bent of mind.â€
Although he wrote this in 1954, you can decide if it is still valid today.
When it comes to Islam – Western equanimity is almost invariably disturbed by an emotional bias. Is it perhaps, I sometimes wonder, because the values of Islam are close enough to those of the West to constitute a potential challenge to many Western concepts of spiritual and social life?’
And I went on to tell him [non-Muslim friend of Muhammad Asad] of a theory which I had conceived some years ago – a theory that might perhaps help one to understand better the deep-seated prejudice against Islam so often to be found in Western literature and contemporary thought. ‘To find a truly convincing explanation of this prejudice I said, ‘one has to look far backward into history and try to comprehend the psychological background of the earliest relations between the Western and the Muslim worlds. What Occidentals think and feel about Islam today is rooted in impressions that were born during the Crusades.’
‘The Crusades!’ exclaimed my friend. ‘You don’t mean to say that what happened nearly a thousand years ago could still have an effect on people of the twentieth century?’
‘But it does! I know it sounds incredible; but don’t you remember the incredulity which greeted the early discoveries of the psychoanalysts when they tried to show that much of the emotional life of a mature person and most of those seemingly unaccountable leanings, tastes and prejudices comprised in the term “idiosyncrasiesâ€- can be traced back to the experiences of his most formative age, his early childhood?
Well, are nations and civilizations anything but collective individuals? Their development also is bound up with the experiences of their early childhood. As with children, those experiences may have been pleasant or unpleasant; they may have been perfectly rational or, alternatively, due to the child’s naive misinterpretation of an event:
the moulding effect of every such experience depends primarily on its original intensity. The century immediately preceding the Crusades, that is, the end of the first millennium of the Christian era, might well be described as the early childhood of Western civilization . . .’
I proceeded to remind my friend – himself an historian – that this had been the age when, for the first time since the dark centuries that followed the breakup of Imperial Rome, Europe was beginning to see its own cultural way. Independently of the almost forgotten Roman heritage, new literatures were just then coming into existence in the European vernaculars; inspired by the religious experience of Western Christianity, fine arts were slowly awakening from the lethargy caused by the warlike migrations of the Goths, Huns and Avars; out of the crude conditions of the early Middle Ages, a new cultural world was emerging. It was at that critical, extremely sensitive stage of its development that Europe received its most formidable shock – in modern parlance, a ‘trauma’ – in the shape of the Crusades.
The Crusades were the strongest collective impression on a civilization that had just begun to be conscious of itself. Historically speaking, they represented Europe’s earliest – and entirely successful – attempt to view itself under the aspect of cultural unity. Nothing that Europe has experienced before or after could compare with the enthusiasm which the First Crusade brought into being. A wave of intoxication swept over the Continent, an elation which for the first time overstepped the barriers between states and tribes and classes.
Before then, there had been Franks and Saxons and Germans, Burgundians and Sicilians, Normans and Lombards – a medley of tribes and races with scarcely anything in common but the fact that most of their feudal kingdoms and principalities were remnants of the Roman Empire and that all of them professed the Christian faith: but in the Crusades, and through them, the religious bond was elevated to a new plane, a cause common to all Europeans alik e – the politico-religious concept of ‘Christendom’, which in its turn gave birth to the cultural concept of ‘Europe’.
When, in his famous speech at Clermont, in November, 1095, Pope Urban II exhorted the Christians to make war upon the ‘wicked race’ that held the Holy Land, he enunciated – probably without knowing it himself – the charter of Western civilization.
The traumatic experience of the Crusades gave Europe its cultural awareness and its unity; but this same experience was destined henceforth also to provide the false colour in which Islam was to appear to Western eyes. Not simply because the Crusades meant war and bloodshed. So many wars have been waged between nations and subsequently forgotten, and so many animosities which in their time seemed ineradicable have later turned into friendships.
The damage caused by the Crusades was not restricted to a clash of weapons: it was, first and foremost, an intellectual damage – the poisoning of the Western mind against the Muslim world through a deliberate misrepresentation of the teachings and ideals of Islam. For, if the call for a crusade was to maintain its validity, the Prophet of the Muslims had, of necessity, to be stamped as the Anti-Christ and his religion depicted in the most lurid terms as a fount of immorality and Perversion. It was at the time of the Crusades that the ludicrous notion that slam was a religion of crude sensualism and brutal violence, of an observance of ritual instead of a purification of the heart entered the Western mind and remained there; and it was then that the name of the Prophet Muhammad (s) – the same Muhammad (s) who had insisted that his own followers respect the prophets of other religions-was contemptuously transformed by Europeans into an insult.
The age when the spirit of independent inquiry could raise its head was as yet far distant in Europe; it was easy for the powers-that-were to sow the dark seeds of hatred for a religion and civilization that was so different from the religion and civilization of the West. Thus it was no accident that the fiery Chanson da Roland, which describes the legendary victory of Christendom over the Muslim ‘heathen’ in southern France, was composed not at the time of those battles but three centuries later-to wit, shortly before the First Crusade – immediately to become a kind of ‘national anthem’ of Europe, and it is no accident, either, that this warlike epic marks the beginning of a European literature, as distinct from the earlier, localized literatures: for hostility toward Islam stood over the cradle of European civilization.
It would seem an irony of history that the age-old Western resentment against Islam, which was religious in origin, should still persist subconsciously at a time when religion has lost most of its hold on the imagination of Western man. This, however is not really surprising. We know that a person may completely lose the religious beliefs imparted to him in his childhood while, nevertheless, some particular emotion connected with those beliefs remains, irrationally, in force throughout his later life ‘-and this,’ I concluded, ‘is precisely what happened to that collective personality, Western civilization. The shadow of the Crusades hovers over the West to this day; and all its reaction toward Islam and the Muslim world bear distinct traces of that die-hard ghost …’
My friend remained silent for a long time. I can still see his tall, lanky figure pacing up and down the room, his hands in his coat pockets, shaking his head as if puzzled, and finally saying: ‘There may be something in what you say . .. indeed, there may be, although I am not in a position to judge your “theory†offhand … But in any case, in the light of what you yourself have just told me, don’t you realize that your life, which to you seems so very simple and uncomplicated, must appear very strange and unusual to Westerners? Could you not perhaps share some of your own experiences with them? Why don’t you write your autobiography? I am sure it would make fascinating reading!’
Laughingly I replied: ‘Well, I might perhaps let myself be persuaded to leave the Foreign Service and write such a book. After all, writing is my original profession
In the following weeks and months my joking response imperceptibly lost the aspect of a joke. I began to think seriously about setting down the story of my life and thus helping, in however small a measure, to lift the heavy veil which separates Islam and its culture from the Occidental mind. My way to Islam had been in many respects unique: I had not become a Muslim because I had lived for a long time among Muslims – on the contrary, I decided to live among them because I had embraced Islam.
Might I not, by communicating my very personal experiences to Western readers, contribute more to a mutual understanding between the Islamic and Western worlds than I could by continuing in a diplomatic position which might be filled equally well by other countrymen of mine? After all, any intelligent man could be Pakistan’s Minister to the United Nations – but how many men were able to talk to Westerners about Islam as I could? I was a Muslim – but I was also of Western origin: and thus I could speak the intellectual languages of both Islam and the West. .
And so, toward the end of 1952,1 resigned from the Pakistan Foreign Service and started to write this book. Whether it is as ‘fascinating reading’ as my American friend anticipated, I cannot say. I could do no more than try to retrace from memory – with the help of only a few old notes, disjointed diary entries and some of the newspaper articles I had written at the time-the tangled lines of a development that stretched over many years and over vast expanses of geographical space.
San Francisco–April 19th–This past week the Libyan War raged without a conclusion in sight as the U.S. and allies try to find a third country that would give Colonel Khadafy if he would agreed to step down. The European enforcement of a no-fly zone seems to be effective, but the government troops with their mercenaries still have the advantage on the land with their superior fire power and training. At least, the French and the United Kingdom have taken the lead in the air, and the Obama Administration has shown some restraint. Still, it is becoming more apparent that (Imperial) ground troops might be required to bolster the rebels, if they are to prevail, for they are out-gunned. This would be a serious involvement in yet another Islamic country that should be avoided at any cost!
Your reporter has been avoiding Israel itself because of the drama around it. Yet within it lies the fate of the Arab “Spring,†and its Palestinian citizens of all three Abrahamic religions might be able to exert the influence upon “their†government to react in a diplomatic manner rather than a hostile belligerent one.
Last Fall the Middle East Children’s Alliance brought Hanin Zoabi, a Palestinian (Arab) Israeli citizen, who represents the Balad Party in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) to speak in the University town of Berkeley across the Bay for the purpose of demonstrating the feminine role in the Arab-Hebrew tussle for rights within the Levant.)
Although a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship and an elected official of that nation, the week before her arrival in America to speak, she had been wounded by a rubber bullet to her neck while demonstrating against the government for which she was a representative.
Zoabi grew up in a relocation camp in exile amongst 30,000 dislocated Palestinian people. The young women there actually would play basketball, and even learned to dance! They, further, began to wear Western-style shorts. Yet they still faced the restrictions of their families, even though the “Disaster†(Nakba) in 1948 changed the lives of all women in the Holy Land greatly.
Manny Mothers lost their children in the two infitadas (violent Palestinian grass- roots revolts against the Israeli Army in which the largely youthful rioters fought the IDF [Israeli Defense Force] with rocks against the latter’s live ammunition). The women would lost hope in the midst of the political situation!
Her family lived in banishment from their land of their birth elsewhere in the Middle East, but her Father desired to die in his natal village on the Israeli side of the division of the Palestine Protectorate before the First Arab-Israeli War in the late 1940s. He took his family with him to their native locale which had become to be ruled by Tel Aviv.
She worked with children for awhile (probably part of MECA’s interest in her words.) M.K. Hanin Zoabi stated that, “I belong here,†a Palestinian on her ancestral home, but within the alien Zionist State. “The Refugee Camp has become a bad memory!†Further, “All Palestinians here [in the audience] should go back!â€
She advocated the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) Movement against Israel. Under Zionist Law, any promoter of this position, who is an Israeli citizen, is liable for prosecution, and, if convicted of such sentiments, can be imprisoned. Ms. Zoabi is a brave woman voicing her stance on the issue, and, further, for campaigning for action along these lines!
Hanin is in one of a handful of Palestinian representatives within a predominantly Jewish Parliament. What she does within Israel itself is politically difficult, for she is attempting to dismantle the (Settler) Colonial State!
Zoabi presents herself as a normative Arab woman who comes from a political family in Nazareth. As a source of personal empowerment, she traveled to Gaza itself to end, as she puts it, the silent siege. “Gaza must not be a soundless victim, for Gaza [has become] the sign[ifier] of the [Arab] Palestinian struggle!†The division between Gaza and the West Bank is an internal scuffle within the Palestinian “State“ itself.
The Palestinian political resistance within Israel itself is to insist upon a State for the primordial Arabs citizens there themselves! Yet, the Israelis do no not treat all as equals!
The Center has two different polices within its territory: One is to drive the Arabs out of Israel, denying the Palestinians their rights. Settler Colonialism criminalizes the natives for insisting on their prerogative to confront the Occupation.
After the Second Infitada, Israel’s policies began to change: The Palestinian issue of the Right of Return arose. Jewish law allowed for the immigration of any of their landzman to immigrate into Israel, but, if an Israeli Arab citizen chooses to marry a Palestinian, they must emigrate from their ancestral land. This guarantees a Jewish majority there in perpetuity.
Figures show the results of Zionist mini-Imperialism: 83% of pre-Partition Palestinian property within the Israel itself has been confiscated from the original inhabitants. That has created an impoverishment of 50% for their Arabic citizens.
Hanin Zoabi declaimed that “Women must lead the Arab political opposition within Palestine.†Although this makes sense to Western Feminism, the truth is all elements of society must be part of directing the course of confrontation against oppression. Feminists are often class defined in relation to their education (which denotes wealth and/or class) plus connection (Ms. Zoabi herself is a niece to a former Mayor of her native city on the West Bank). All must be willing to take on an organizational role for a revolt to be successful as has been seen in the surrounding Arab world — this includes the feminine but not exclusively. It must come out of grass-roots movement that includes all classes and genders et al., as in Tunisia and Egypt recently, for a rebellion to succeed.
She continued that “We are battling for [our] national rights. We must not deny our history. We cannot be ordered to swear allegiance to Israel as a Jewish State! We don’t need Jewish immigrants to teach us our history!
The Israelis are denying our history. We are flailing for our democracy. In the end, “There must be no division between Muslim and Jew. Citizenship doesn’t begin at nativity!â€
This Member of her Parliament claimed that the Israeli State has twenty basic prejudicial laws that deny the Palestinians parity. “In order to achieve equality we require an independent [national] State†for ourselves.
It is the Israeli political parties — not the State — who are inclined to criminalize the Palestinian society. “To be a Jewish State is to be a racist State!†(Your author world change the word “racist†to “sectarian†which is different, but just as evil.) Despite Israel’s secular obsession, there is a new reality after the second Infitada. “The Palestinian Israelis must become part of the solution!†(Further, your reporter summarizes that Israel itself is central to the success or failure of the Arab Spring!)
Prince Albert II of Monaco next to his fiancee Charlene Wittstock as they attend the final of the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament in Monaco April 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
Pakistani tennis player Aisam Qureshi and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna continue to be a wrecking ball on the ATP tour. The IndoPak Express, as they are called, are now ranked sixth in the world as a men’s doubles team, a rise of two spots from their pre-tournament ranking of eight.
Most recently, they made it to the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters, and along the way they ousted tournament second-seeds and multiple grand-slam winners Daniel Nestor and Max Mirny in the quarter-finals. They were, however, handed a surprise loss by the unseeded Juan Ignacio Chela and Bruno Soares in the semi-finals.
Qureshi is now ranked 11th, one up from his previous position of 12 in the individual doubles players rankings. Qureshi’s Indian partner Bopanna also improved his individual doubles ranking from 15 to 14. This week the two are in Spain participating in the Barcelona Open.
Manchester City’s Yaya Toure (L) shoots to score during their FA Cup semi-final soccer against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium in London, April 16, 2011.
REUTERS/Toby Melville
Midfielder Yaya Toure scored the lone goal of the match for Manchester City against fierce rivals Manchester United, sending Man City into the Football Association (FA) final match. This will be the first time taking part in the FA Cup finals for Manchester City since 1981. Toure, an Ivory Coast international, scored in the 52nd-minute, capitalizing on a giveaway by Manchester United’s Michael Carrick. Toure then sent the ball past United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar, and they held on for the 1-0 victory at Wembley Stadium in London. Toure dedicated the semi-final goal to brother and Manchester City team-mate Kolo Toure, who is suspended after testing positive for a banned substance. Manchester City will now face surprise FA Cup finalist Stoke City, who will be playing in their first ever FA Cup final. The match will take place on May 14th.
British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan retained his WBA light welterweight title by a technical decision on Saturday against challenger Paul McCloskey in Manchester, England. The fight was stopped by the referee in the sixth round because of a nasty cut over McCloskey’s left eye. The ending was somewhat controversial, as referee Luiz Pabon deemed that the cut was a result of an accidental clash of heads. He summoned ringside doctor Phil Sahu, who believed McCloskey couldn’t continue with blood seeping into his eye and impairing his vision. McCloskey was livid as Pabon sent the fight to the judges for a decision. And all three judges not only had Khan leading 60-54 in the 6th round, but they also had Khan the victor in each of the first five rounds, giving Khan the technical decision.
After the fight, McCloskey’s camp was adamant that the fight should not have been stopped and that he was deserving of an immediate rematch. While Khan’s promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, was somewhat sympathetic to McCloskey’s sentiments, he was firm in stating that Khan would be moving on to other challengers in the immediate future. In fact, even before this fight, word had been circulating that a unification bout with WBO and WBC title holder Timothy Bradley had already been penciled in for July 23rd of this year in Las Vegas. With the win, Khan improved to 25-1 with 17 knockouts.
Dr. Mahmoud Hessaby was born in Tehran in 1903. His family moved to Beirut, Lebanon in 1907. He received religious instructions and studied Persian literature from his devoted and learned mother. Memorized the Holly Qur’an by heart at an early age and read the great poetry of Hafez, Sa’adi and Ferdowsi when he was just a teenager.
After completing his high school he chose American College of Beirut, graduating with a bachelor’s degree of Science. He continued his studies in Civil Engineering and after receiving his degree he studied Mathematics Astronomy and Physics. He moved to France and worked for French National Railway. Continued his research in Physics and received his PhD at the age of 25 from Sorbonne University, France After completing his PhD returned back to Iran. Dr. Hessaby was polymath, he studied different fields and continued lecturing at University of Tehran for three working generations. He died in the year 1992 at Geneva, Switzerland and is buried in Tafresh, Iran.
What makes him a great mind is his well-known theory of “Infinitely extended particlesâ€. Dr Hessaby met with Dr Albert Einstein and he was the only Iranian who closely worked with him. He researched on his theory in Princeton, Chicago and preformed many different experiments to verify his theory. He published the results of his research in 1946 at Princeton University. His theory “Infinitely extended particles†is well known among scientists. Einstein once said about him that “One day he will change the direction of physicsâ€. In 1973 the medal of “Commandeur de la Legionâ€, France’s greatest scientific medal was awarded to him for his great theory. One of the great things he did was the modification of Newton’s law of gravity and Columbus’ law. In the field of Modern Physics he published 23 research papers and many books which include, Electrodynamics, Electric Eye, Viewpoint in Physics, Magnetic Eye, Solid State Physics and Quantum View.
Dr. Hessaby can be considered a great mind because of his endless desire for knowledge that led him to study and master several fields of science. He studied and researched in different subjects and was able to make great contributions in most of them. He also taught different subjects at various universities and gave new and interesting ideas in each of them. Dr Hessaby was a great person both in the history of the science and for the modernization of his country, Iran. He knew eleven different languages, such as Persian, English, French, Arabic, German, Italian and Greek.
What makes Dr Hessaby unique is the numerous services he rendered for his country, such as establishment of Tehran University, the teachers collage, the first meteorological station and radiological center. He also founded the space research center, the geophysics institute and the satellite tracking observatory center of Iran. It is interesting to know that Dr Hessaby also mastered Persian literature, played piano and violin and established the first Iranian institute of music. Dr Hessaby’s life, his struggles, his tireless and intense interest in the quest of science as well as his deep interest in teaching the youth, and his commitment to the scientific progress of his country provides a living example and model for the students of science all over the world.
A museum has been established by his family, colleagues and students in order to value his 60 years of scientific, educational and cultural activities.
The central opening of your eye is known as the pupil, it changes size depending on the amount of light.The pupil is the hole in the center of the iris that light passes through.
The iris muscles control its size.The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye.
In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In optical terms, the anatomical pupil is the eye’s aperture and the iris is the aperture stop.
The image of the pupil as seen from outside the eye is the entrance pupil, which does not exactly correspond to the location and size of the physical pupil because it is magnified by the cornea.The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina.
On the inner edge lies a prominent structure, the collarette, marking the junction of the embryonic pupillary membrane covering the embryonic pupil. The iris is a contractile structure, consisting mainly of smooth muscle, surrounding the pupil.
Light enters the eye through the pupil, and the iris regulates the amount of light by controlling the size of the pupil. The iris contains two groups of smooth muscles; a circular group called the sphincter pupillae, and a radial group called the dilator pupillae. When the sphincter pupillae contract, the iris decreases or constricts the size of the pupil.
The dilator pupillae, innervated by sympathetic nerves from the superior cervical ganglion, cause the pupil to dilate when they contract. These muscles are sometimes referred to as intrinsic eye muscles. The sensory pathway (rod or cone, bipolar, ganglion) is linked with its counterpart in the other eye by a partial crossover of each eye’s fibers. This causes the effect in one eye to carry over to the other.
If the drug pilocarpine is administered, the pupils will constrict and accommodation is increased due to the parasympathetic action on the circular muscle fibers, conversely, atropine will cause paraylsis of accommodation (cycloplegia) and dilation of the pupil.
The sympathetic nerve system can dilate the pupil in two ways: by the stimulation of the sympathetic nerve in the neck, or by influx of adrenaline. When bright light is shone on the eye light sensitive cells in the retina, including rod and cone photoreceptors and melanopsin ganglion cells, will send signals to the oculomotor nerve, specifically the parasympathetic part coming from the Edinger-Westphal nucleus, which terminates on the circular iris sphincter muscle. When this muscle contracts, it reduces the size of the pupil. This is the pupillary light reflex, which is an important test of brainstem function. Furthermore, the pupil will dilate if a person sees an object of interest.
The pupil gets wider in the dark but narrower in light. When narrow, the diameter is 3 to 4 millimeters. In the dark it will be the same at first, but will approach the maximum distance for a wide pupil 5 to 9 mm. In any human age group there is however considerable variation in maximal pupil size. For example, at the peak age of 15, the dark-adapted pupil can vary from 5 mm to 9 mm with different individuals. After 25 years of age the average pupil size decreases, though not at a steady rate. At this stage the pupils do not remain completely still, therefore may lead to oscillation, which may intensify and become known as hippus. When only one eye is stimulated, both eyes contract equally. The constriction of the pupil and near vision are closely tied. In bright light, the pupils constrict to prevent aberrations of light rays and thus attain their expected acuity; in the dark this is not necessary, so it is chiefly concerned with admitting sufficient light into the eye.
A condition called bene dilitatism occurs when the optic nerves are partially damaged. This condition is typified by chronically widened pupils due to the decreased ability of the optic nerves to respond to light. In normal lighting, people afflicted with this condition normally have dilated pupils, and bright lighting can cause pain. At the other end of the spectrum, people with this condition have trouble seeing in darkness. It is necessary for these people to be especially careful when driving at night due to their inability to see objects in their full perspective. This condition is not otherwise dangerous. The pupil dilates in response to extreme emotional situations such as fear, or to contact of a sensory nerve, such as pain. Task-evoked pupillary response is the tendency of pupils to dilate slightly in response to loads on working memory, increased attention, sensory discrimination, or other cognitive loads.
Facial expressions of sadness with small pupils are judged significantly more intensely sad with decreasing pupil size though people are unaware of pupil size affecting their judgment. A person’s own pupil size also mirrors this with them being smaller when viewing sad faces with small pupils. There is no parallel effect when people look at neutral, happy or angry expressions. Brain areas involved in this include those processing social signals in the amygdala, and areas involved in the mirror neuron system such as the left frontal operculum. The degree of empathetic contagion activated the brainstem pupillary control Edinger-Westphal nucleus in proportion to a person’s pupil size change response to that in another. The greater degree to which a person’s pupil dilation mirrors another person’s coincides with that person having a greater empathy score.
Islamic Center of Augusta breaks ground for new facility
AUGUSTA, GA–The Islamic Center of Augusta is building a new facility to accomadate the growing needs of the congregation. Last month, crews broke ground on an eight acre sight for the construction which is scheduled for completion by next March.
The $3.5 million project will feature prayer area, soccer fields and indoor basketball courts.
A spokesman for the center told the WJBF TV: “There’s a growth in the Muslim community in Augusta and in surrounding areas. We felt that we need a youth center and youth activitIes that are more open to the community.â€
Madina Ali wins leadership award
MORGAN TOWN, WV–Women’s basketball star Madina Ali of West Virginia University has been named by the university for this year’s Leland Byrd Basketball Leadership Award. The award is given to student athletes who outstanding team leadership on and off the court.
Ali, a Williamsport, Pa., native, earns the leadership honor for the second consecutive season. As co-captain of the women’s basketball team for two straight seasons, Ali earned second team all-BIG EAST honors and was a four-time BIG EAST honor roll recipient.
As a senior leader, Ali was one of only 10 total BIG EAST players to record 30 points in a game and led the team’s rebounding efforts, averaging 7.1 rebounds a game to rank 10th in the BIG EAST. At forward, Ali totaled 241 boards, including a team-leading 98 offensive rebounds. As an offensive threat, she recorded a 53.4 field goal percentage on 159-of-298 shooting, which ranked as the seventh highest in the league. Ali also held the teams’ second-highest scoring average of 12.4 points per game, recorded the second-most points for the season with 421 and led the team with nine double-doubles.
Madina Ali is the daughter of Abdul-Rahim and Atiya Ali.
Studies submitted for New Castle mosque
NEW CASTLE,NY–Plans to build a mosque and Islamic center in the west end of New Castle are moving forward with the submission by the Upper Westchester Muslim Society of an updated series of environmental impact studies, lohud.com news portal reported.
The Muslim Society now holds services and classes in a rented space in Thornwood but has outgrown it. The group wants to build a masjid, or mosque, and community center on Pines Bridge Road in a residential area. It needs a permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals to build the 24,690-square-foot structure on 8 acres.
With the second version of the draft environmental study, the Muslim Society submitted more information on traffic and the timing and scope of the activities at the center. If the zoning board decides the document is complete, it will move on to public hearings. The board is expected to discuss the issue at its April 27 meeting.
Muslim conference held at University of Missouri
COLUMBIA,MO–The Muslim Students Organization at University of Missouri organized an Islamic conference recently on the theme “Pursuits of this World — Beyond Material Gains.†I mam Siraj Wahaj and Ustadha Tahera Ahmad (chaplain from Northwestern University) were the keynote speakers at the weekend conference.
MSO spokesman Mahir Khan in an interview to the student newspaper provided a summary of the speeches. “His topic was just to give back, not just to the Muslim community but to the community at large,†Khan said. “He kind of expanded on that in Friday’s sermon about Muslim’s footprint in America and it got me thinking, ‘What have I done to give back, not only to the Muslim community but to the entire country?’â€
Ustadha Ahmad talked about achieving balance in one’s life. MSO President Arwa Mohammad said Ahmad’s experience as a university chaplain made her interaction with the students lively and entertaining.
“She threw tennis balls and basketballs and made us do complex tasks with them to show that if you’re trying to do too much, or if you’re trying to juggle too many things at once, you’re not necessarily going to be successful at those tasks,†Mohammad said.
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaks at a news conference held to unveil the House Republican budget blueprint in the Capitol in Washington April 5, 2011. The plan calls for sweeping changes to government health programs as it slashes taxes for corporations and individuals.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, sounds upset.
And you can see why: President Obama, to the great relief of progressives, has called his bluff.
Last week, Mr. Ryan unveiled his budget proposal, and the initial reaction of much of the punditocracy was best summed up (sarcastically) by the blogger John Cole: “The plan is bold! It is serious! It took courage! It re-frames the debate! The ball is in Obama’s court! Very wonky! It is a game-changer! Did I mention it is serious?â€
Then people who actually understand budget numbers went to work, and it became clear that the proposal wasn’t serious at all. In fact, it was a sick joke. The only real things in it were savage cuts in aid to the needy and the uninsured, huge tax cuts for corporations and the rich, and Medicare privatization. All the alleged cost savings were pure fantasy.
On Wednesday, as I said, the president called Mr. Ryan’s bluff: after offering a spirited (and reassuring) defense of social insurance, he declared, “There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. And I don’t think there’s anything courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill.†Actually, the Ryan plan calls for $2.9 trillion in tax cuts, but who’s counting?
And then Mr. Obama laid out a budget plan that really is serious.
The president’s proposal isn’t perfect, by a long shot. My own view is that while the spending controls on Medicare he proposed are exactly the right way to go, he’s probably expecting too much payoff in the near term. And over the longer run, I believe that we’ll need modestly higher taxes on the middle class as well as the rich to pay for the kind of society we want. But the vision was right, and the numbers were far more credible than anything in the Ryan sales pitch.
And the hissy fit — I mean, criticism — the Obama plan provoked from Mr. Ryan was deeply revealing, as the man who proposes using budget deficits as an excuse to cut taxes on the rich accused the president of being “partisan.†Mr. Ryan also accused the president of being “dramatically inaccurate†— this from someone whose plan included a $200 billion error in its calculation of interest costs and appears to have made an even bigger error on Medicaid costs. He didn’t say what the inaccuracies were.
And now for something completely wonkish: Can we talk, briefly, about politicians talking about drugs?
For the contrast between Mr. Ryan last week and Mr. Obama on Wednesday wasn’t just about visions of society. There was also a difference in visions of how the world works. And nowhere was that clearer than in the issue of how Medicare should pay for drugs.
Mr. Obama declared, “We will cut spending on prescription drugs by using Medicare’s purchasing power to drive greater efficiency.â€
Meanwhile, Mr. Ryan held up the existing Medicare drug benefit — a program run through private insurance companies, under legislation that specifically prohibits Medicare from using its bargaining power — as an example of the efficiencies that could be gained from privatizing the whole system.
Mr. Obama has it right. Medicare Part D has been less expensive than expected, at least so far, but that’s because overall prescription drug spending has fallen short of expectations, largely thanks to a dearth of new drugs and the growing use of generics. The right way to assess Part D is by comparing it with programs where the government is allowed to use its purchasing power. And such comparisons suggest that if there’s any magic in privatization, it’s the magical way it makes drug companies richer and taxpayers poorer. For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs pays about 40 percent less for drugs than the private plans in Part D.
Did I mention that Medicare Advantage, which closely resembles the privatized system that Republicans want to impose on all seniors, currently costs taxpayers 12 percent more per recipient than traditional Medicare?
But back to the president’s speech. His plan isn’t about to become law; neither is Mr. Ryan’s. And given the hysterical Republican reaction, it doesn’t look likely that we’ll see negotiations trying to narrow the difference. That’s a good thing because Mr. Obama’s plan already relies more on spending cuts than it should, and moving it significantly in the G.O.P.’s direction would produce something unworkable and unacceptable.
What happened over the past two weeks, then, was more about staking out positions than about enacting policies. On one side you had a combination of mean-spiritedness and fantasy; on the other you had a reaffirmation of American compassion and community, coupled with fairly realistic numbers. Which would you choose?
April 17, 2011, Bloomfield Hills–Imam Al-Amin Abdul Latif, is a leader of the Islamic Leadership Council of NY, was the guest speaker for the evening program on April 15, 2011 at the Muslim Unity Center in Bloomfield Hills MI. Imam Almasmari, the current imam of the center, introduced him.
The theme of his speech was on Mercy, Compassion and Guidance based on the life of our beloved Prophet (s). And through this he said, “I want to present to you the true picture of Islamâ€.
Giving examples from the life of Prophet (s) he said in a forceful and convincing way that we as a Muslim, respect life, but there are people in the east and the west who believe in destroying life with impunity.
This gives a bad name to Muslims all over the world.
A real Muslim is the one with whom the world feels blessed and safer, who believes in Mercy to the Muslims and to the non Muslims.
We are living in a difficult time, he said, but if we follow the path of our Prophet (s) in dealing with our women, children, neighbors, and those who disagree with us, we will make our communities and societies rise to a higher degree than what we are today. We must continue to strive for a better and safer world.
America is the only country in the world where people can exercise their rights freely. Giving the example of recent huge rally in NY he said, “Look, how people mingled, talked, shouted slogans and moved about fearlessly.†People in the rally hailed from all sorts of backgrounds, they hailed from different ethnicity, different countries, with different cultures, old, young, and some parents with their babies in strollers moved freely, talked and chatted with people unknown to them and even with the people from the law enforcement agencies, in spite of the fact that the whole atmosphere appeared to be highly charged.
He concluded by saying, “American society is an open society and because of current degradation of moral and social values the door for Dawah is wide open. We must utilize this opportunity by remaining on the path of Mercy and Compassion towards all as shown to us by our Prophet (s).
Imam Almasmari thanked the speaker for enlightening the audience and entertained questions from the audience.
