12.31.08
Posted in World and Politics at 11:54 pm by salafiya
By Linda Heard, Arab News
http://arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=117661&d=30&m=12&y=2008
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ONCE again Israel seeks to defend the indefensible in an attempt to cloak its crimes against humanity with the mantle of self-defense. As its American-manufactured bombs and missiles pound a virtually unarmed starving population, Israeli officials appear on just about every satellite news network singing from the same propagandist song sheet.
It’s all the fault of the terror organization Hamas which refused to renew the cease-fire, ” ‘We have a duty to protect our citizens in the south from rockets and mortars”. I’ve heard several saying “When we pulled out of Gaza we hoped Palestinians would forge a functioning territory but instead they chose terror”. In answer to questions concerning so many civilian deaths, they all insist that Israel is carrying out surgical strikes against “terror infrastructure” or they will excuse Israel’s bombardment of homes with “civilians are hiding launchers in their houses”.
Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman seemed nonplussed when one interviewer asked him whether the seven dead UNWRA student employees were launching missiles too.
Predictably, these merchants of untruths are given free rein to spin on most Western networks and disproportionate airtime as opposed to pro-Palestinian commentators.
Let’s dissect these fabricated Israeli arguments.
First, whatever one thinks of Hamas and it ideology, it was elected to office in free and internationally-monitored elections that were forced upon the Palestinian people by Washington as part of the Bush administration’s quest to democratize the Middle East.
Then, after congratulating the Palestinians on their new democracy, the US-led international community promptly condemned the new leadership as terrorist and threw its support behind Fatah, which was “ordered” to turn against Hamas. This divisive strategy worked to the extent Hamas was driven to Gaza where it has since struggled against all odds to provide its citizens with the barest minimum required to sustain life.
Those representatives of Israel who say since their country’s pullout there was no obstacle to Gaza becoming a flourishing enclave are disingenuous when Gaza’s borders are sealed and the people have no control over their coastline or airspace.
Even when the Fatah-controlled Palestinian National Authority managed Gaza, Israel did everything it could to destroy infrastructure including a $75 million airport built with donations from the EU, Japan and Morocco. And during this recent round of attacks, ministries, government buildings, police stations and a police academy were bombed which does not support Israel’s supposed wish to see a functioning Gaza.
While it is true that Hamas refused to extend the cease-fire, what incentive does it have to do so while Israel is waging a war of attrition on the people in its care? It seems residents of Gaza must choose to die slowly from starvation and lack of medicines or at the hands of the Israeli war machine. Secondly, Israel is, indeed, duty-bound to protect its citizens but just look at the numbers. Very few crude home-made rockets have resulted in casualties. I believe only one Israeli has died during this current onslaught that has robbed the lives of over 320 Palestinians and wounded up to 1,000; not including those still buried beneath rubble. Once more, Israel’s response has been disproportionate just as it was in 2006 when it slaughtered 1,200 Lebanese civilians in answer to Hezbollah’s kidnapping of IDF soldiers.
Third, when it comes to Gaza, said to be one of the most densely-populated areas of the world, there is no such thing as a surgical strike. Moreover, over half of Gaza’s population are children under 18. Even the smartest smart bombs could not cherry-pick between resistance fighters and innocents in such a packed environment. The Israeli government knows this and doesn’t care a jot, which translates to willful collective punishment, illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
But like its Washington master (or is it the other way around?) Israel is not constrained by international law or the Geneva Conventions that also require an occupying nation to provide for the well being of people under its occupation and to respect their dignity. As the willful killing continues, Israel merrily ignores pleas from France, Russia, the UN, the EU and Britain to end the violence. Why should it do otherwise when it has proved time and time again that it is a law unto itself and immune from international punishment?
Unsurprisingly, the only message from the US to Israel is “try to avoid civilian casualties”, which is nothing more than lip service to international humanitarian sensitivities. In effect, the Bush administration has blessed this, by many accounts, long planned operation, cynically timed to begin during a political vacuum in Washington and close to upcoming elections when candidates need to prove they’re tough to win votes. Tragically, there may be much worse to come. Israeli government officials including Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned the offensive could be widened as tanks line up on the border with Gaza and 6,500 IDF reservists are on standby.
Tomorrow, the Arab League is holding an emergency summit of foreign ministers to discuss the crisis. If only they will decide to do more than issue a joint statement of condemnation this time. Together they have so much clout. Now is the time for all Arab countries to gather together as one nation to say “enough is enough” before the streets of Gaza run with the blood of their desperate brothers and sisters. As the West closes its eyes and ears to Palestinian cries for help Arab leaders should heed the outraged voices on their own streets and act. Finally, the governments of Egypt and Jordan should do some soul-searching. Should they continue with peace agreements made in all good faith with a selfish, cruel state bent on destroying a people for its own ends?
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12.29.08
Posted in World and Politics at 12:03 pm by salafiya
December 29, 2008
Johann Hari: The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling
The world isn’t just watching the Israeli government commit a crime in Gaza; we are watching it self-harm. This morning, and tomorrow morning, and every morning until this punishment beating ends, the young people of the Gaza Strip are going to be more filled with hate, and more determined to fight back, with stones or suicide vests or rockets. Israeli leaders have convinced themselves that the harder you beat the Palestinians, the softer they will become. But when this is over, the rage against Israelis will have hardened, and the same old compromises will still be waiting by the roadside of history, untended and unmade.
To understand how frightening it is to be a Gazan this morning, you need to have stood in that small slab of concrete by the Mediterranean and smelled the claustrophobia. The Gaza Strip is smaller than the Isle of Wight but it is crammed with 1.5 million people who can never leave. They live out their lives on top of each other, jobless and hungry, in vast, sagging tower blocks. From the top floor, you can often see the borders of their world: the Mediterranean, and Israeli barbed wire. When bombs begin to fall – as they are doing now with more deadly force than at any time since 1967 – there is nowhere to hide.
There will now be a war over the story of this war. The Israeli government says, “We withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and in return we got Hamas and Qassam rockets being rained on our cities. Sixteen civilians have been murdered. How many more are we supposed to sacrifice?” It is a plausible narrative, and there are shards of truth in it, but it is also filled with holes. If we want to understand the reality and really stop the rockets, we need to rewind a few years and view the run-up to this war dispassionately.
The Israeli government did indeed withdraw from the Gaza Strip in 2005 – in order to be able to intensify control of the West Bank. Ariel Sharon’s senior adviser, Dov Weisglass, was unequivocal about this, explaining: “The disengagement [from Gaza] is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so that there will not be a political process with the Palestinians… this whole package that is called the Palestinian state has been removed from our agenda indefinitely.”
Ordinary Palestinians were horrified by this, and by the fetid corruption of their own Fatah leaders, so they voted for Hamas. It certainly wouldn’t have been my choice – an Islamist party is antithetical to all my convictions - but we have to be honest. It was a free and democratic election, and it was not a rejection of a two-state solution. The most detailed polling of Palestinians, by the University of Maryland, found that 72 per cent want a two-state solution on the 1967 borders, while fewer than 20 per cent want to reclaim the whole of historic Palestine. So, partly in response to this pressure, Hamas offered Israel a long, long ceasefire and a de facto acceptance of two states, if only Israel would return to its legal borders.
Rather than seize this opportunity and test Hamas’s sincerity, the Israeli government reacted by punishing the entire civilian population. It announced that it was blockading the Gaza Strip in order to “pressure” its people to reverse the democratic process. The Israelis surrounded the Strip and refused to let anyone or anything out. They let in a small trickle of food, fuel and medicine – but not enough for survival. Weisglass quipped that the Gazans were being “put on a diet”. According to Oxfam, only 137 trucks of food were allowed into Gaza last month to feed 1.5 million people. The United Nations says poverty has reached an “unprecedented level.” When I was last in besieged Gaza, I saw hospitals turning away the sick because their machinery and medicine was running out. I met hungry children stumbling around the streets, scavenging for food.
It was in this context – under a collective punishment designed to topple a democracy – that some forces within Gaza did something immoral: they fired Qassam rockets indiscriminately at Israeli cities. These rockets have killed 16 Israeli citizens. This is abhorrent: targeting civilians is always murder. But it is hypocritical for the Israeli government to claim now to speak out for the safety of civilians when it has been terrorising civilians as a matter of state policy.
The American and European governments are responding with a lop-sidedness that ignores these realities. They say that Israel cannot be expected to negotiate while under rocket fire, but they demand that the Palestinians do so under siege in Gaza and violent military occupation in the West Bank.
Before it falls down the memory hole, we should remember that last week, Hamas offered a ceasefire in return for basic and achievable compromises. Don’t take my word for it. According to the Israeli press, Yuval Diskin, the current head of the Israeli security service Shin Bet, “told the Israeli cabinet [on 23 December] that Hamas is interested in continuing the truce, but wants to improve its terms.” Diskin explained that Hamas was requesting two things: an end to the blockade, and an Israeli ceasefire on the West Bank. The cabinet – high with election fever and eager to appear tough – rejected these terms.
The core of the situation has been starkly laid out by Ephraim Halevy, the former head of Mossad. He says that while Hamas militants – like much of the Israeli right-wing – dream of driving their opponents away, “they have recognised this ideological goal is not attainable and will not be in the foreseeable future.” Instead, “they are ready and willing to see the establishment of a Palestinian state in the temporary borders of 1967.” They are aware that this means they “will have to adopt a path that could lead them far from their original goals” – and towards a long-term peace based on compromise.
The rejectionists on both sides – from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to Bibi Netanyahu of Israel – would then be marginalised. It is the only path that could yet end in peace but it is the Israeli government that refuses to choose it. Halevy explains: “Israel, for reasons of its own, did not want to turn the ceasefire into the start of a diplomatic process with Hamas.”
Why would Israel act this way? The Israeli government wants peace, but only one imposed on its own terms, based on the acceptance of defeat by the Palestinians. It means the Israelis can keep the slabs of the West Bank on “their” side of the wall. It means they keep the largest settlements and control the water supply. And it means a divided Palestine, with responsibility for Gaza hived off to Egypt, and the broken-up West Bank standing alone. Negotiations threaten this vision: they would require Israel to give up more than it wants to. But an imposed peace will be no peace at all: it will not stop the rockets or the rage. For real safety, Israel will have to talk to the people it is blockading and bombing today, and compromise with them.
The sound of Gaza burning should be drowned out by the words of the Israeli writer Larry Derfner. He says: “Israel’s war with Gaza has to be the most one-sided on earth… If the point is to end it, or at least begin to end it, the ball is not in Hamas’s court – it is in ours.”
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12.27.08
Posted in Muslims, World and Politics at 12:21 pm by salafiya
Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah
I JUST heard about our beloved brothers and sisters in Ghazza being attacked - and it was through a forum that I first read about it. I turned CNN on and they had this bogus program going on about legal reports. WHERE IS THE BREAKING NEWS? I remember when the Mumbai bombings happened, it was breaking news for DAYS. CNN headline news just talks about Caylee Anthony (for weeks on end). WTH IS THIS CRAP?
America, you need to get over your obsessive love of Israel and condemn terrorism, not only when Muslims do something you don’t like.
And Muslims (myself first), we need to wake up. We’ve been in a deeep slumber, but how can we be as we read the following things:
“Hospital officials said at least 205 people had been killed in one of the bloodiest days for the Palestinians in 60 years of conflict. Nearly half were members of the Islamist Hamas group’s security forces. Over 700 people were wounded.”
“Hospital officials said many of the dead were passers by, including 15 women.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BQ1IJ20081227
Ya Allaah, grant the Muslims victory over all and allow the Muslims to overcome the oppressors and tyrants. Ya Allaah, guide us to the Straight Path and give us true gheerah for the deen and the ummah.
Ya Allaah, grant the Muslims sabr. Accept the shahadah of those who have died. Ease the living’s pain. Ameen ya Rabb.
I’ve gotta go for now but PLEASE read take action (protest, etc).
Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah
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12.25.08
Posted in Islaam at 1:51 am by salafiya
Narrated ‘Aa’ishah radiAllaahu ‘anha, the wife of the Prophet sal Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam that she was told that ‘Abdullaah ibn Az-Zubayr (on hearing that she was selling, or giving something as a gift) said, “By Allaah, if ‘Aa’ishah does not give up this, I will declare her incompetent to dispose of her wealth.”
I said, “Did he (’Abdullaah bin Az-Zubayr) say so?”
They (people) said, “Yes.”
‘Aa’ishah said, “I vow to Allaah that I will never speak to Ibn Az-Zubayr.” When this desertion lasted long, ‘Abdullah bin Az-Zubayr sought intercession with her, but she said, “By Allaah, I will not accept the intercession of anyone for him, and will not commit a sin by breaking my vow.”
When this state of affairs was prolonged on Ibn Az-Zubayr (he felt it hard on him), he said to Al-Miswar bin Makhrama and ‘Abdur-Rahmaan bin Al-Aswad bin ‘Abd Yaghooth, who were from the tribe of Bani Zuhra, “I beseech you, by Allaah, to let me enter upon ‘Aa’ishah, for it is unlawful for her to vow to cut the relation with me.”
So Al-Miswar and ‘Abdur-Rahmaan, wrapping their sheets around themselves, asked ‘Aa’ishah’s permission saying, “Peace and Allaah’s Mercy and Blessings be upon you! Shall we come in?”
‘Aa’ishah said, “Come in.”
They said, “All of us?”
She said, “Yes, come in, all of you,” not knowing that Ibn Az-Zubayr was also with them. So when they entered, Ibn Az-Zubayr entered teh screened place and got hold of ‘Aa’ishah and started requesting her to excuse him, and wept. Al-Miswar and ‘Abdur-Rahmaan also started requesting her to speak to him and to accept his repentance.
They said (to her), “The Prophet sal Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam forbade what you know of deserting (not speaking to your Muslim brethern), for it is unlawful for any Muslim not to talk to his brother for more than three nights (days).”
So when they increased their reminding her (of the superiority of having good relations with kith and kin, and of excusing other’s sins), and brought her down to a critical situation, she started reminding them, and wept, saying, “I have made a vow, and (the question of) vow is a difficult one.” They Al-Miswar and ‘Abdur-Rahmaan) persisted in their appeal till she spoke with ‘Abdullaah bin Az-Zubayr and she manumitted forty slaves as an expiation for her vow. Later on, whenever she remembered her vow, she used to weep so much that her veil used to become wet with tears. [Saheeh Bukharee, Volume 8 of Abridged English version, Chapter 62, hadeeth numbers 6073, 6074, 6075]
Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah….
SUBHANALLAAH! The chapter under which this hadeeth is placed under is entitled “Al-Hijra [(to desert or) cut one's relation with another Muslim (i.e., not to speak to him on meeting him)]. This hadeeth, as indicated by the chapter, shows that it is haraam to cut off ties from the Muslims (as we know through other ahadeeth). What struck me the most about this hadeeth, however, is how much ‘Aa’ishah’s vow meant to the beloved wife of RasoolAllaah.
When I first read it, I was comparing it to the modern day mentality. These days, so many of us easily make “wallaahi” promises, yet it doesn’t really bear much weight on us. I know that in the past I have been guilty of saying, “I will just fast those 3 days” when thinking about breaking that promise. Alhumdulillah, I personally have gotten rid of that evil habit as breaking promises is something that is spoken harshly against in Islaam (just so everyone knows that I do not encourage what I did).
But I know I was not the only one who would say “Eh, all I’ve gotta do is fast 3 days, it’s ok.” And this is not a good thing at all as making a “wallaahi proimse” is a big deal. Imagine, you are SWEARING BY ALLAAH on a matter. And when many people break the promise thinking that it’s not that big of a deal, they must not have read the above hadeeth because ‘Aa’ishah radiAllaahu anha was heartbroken over her broken promise (and that was a GOOD broken promise because it is haraam to forsake your brother for more than 3 days OR cut ties with kin - from what I have read, keeping the sort of promise that makes you do something haraam is haraam upon you)!!! She weeped every time she thought of the broken vow until her veil became wet with tears! Even AFTER she freed 40 slaves, thereby ‘paying’ the expiation for the broken vow. Do we care that much about our (BAD) broken promises? How much do we regret them?
SubhanAllaah, many Muslims have forgotten or are ignorant of the magnitude of swearing by Allaah. It’s NOT a small thing and your vow must be honored unless it goes against Islaam!
Here is a hadeeth that further shows that:
Abu Hurayrah narrated that Muhammad sal Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, Three things are the sign of the hypocrite: when he speaks he tells lies, when he promises he breaks it and when he is trusted he proves to be dishonest. [Bukharee (Eng. Trans. 1/31/no.32) and Muslim (Eng. Trans. 1/40/no.112)]
Anyhow, back to the initial hadeeth I posted. I also loved that hadeeth because of the love between ‘Abdullah ibn Zubayr and his aunt, ‘Aa’ishah radiAllaahu anha. That little grudge between them and the way they reconciled was so cute. SubhanAllaah. May Allaah allow us to be in their company and in even higher company on Youm al Qiyamah, Ameen.
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12.13.08
Posted in Heart Softeners, Islaam at 4:10 pm by salafiya
Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah
It was narrated that Anas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Whoever is mainly concerned about the Hereafter, Allaah will make him feel independent of others and will make him focused and content, and his worldly affairs will fall into place. But whoever is mainly concerned with this world, Allaah will make him feel in constant need of others and will make him distracted and unfocused, and he will get nothing of this world except what is decreed for him.” (Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 2389; classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 6510).
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “When a person spends his entire day with no other concern but Allaah alone, Allaah, may He be glorified, will take care of all his needs and take care of all that is worrying him; He will empty his heart so that it will be filled only with love for Him, free his tongue so that it will speak only in remembrance of Him (dhikr) and cause all his faculties to work only in obedience to Him. But if a person spends his entire day with no other concern but this world, Allaah will make him bear its distress, anxiety and pain; He will leave him to sort himself out, and cause his heart to be distracted from the love of Allaah towards the love of some created being, cause his tongue to speak only in remembering people instead of remembering Allaah, and cause him to use his talents and energy in obeying and serving them. So he will strive hard, labouring like some work-animal, to serve something other than Allaah… Everyone who turns away from being a true slave of Allaah and obeying Him and loving Him will be burdened with servitude, love and obedience to some created being. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): ‘And whosoever turns away (blinds himself) from the remembrance of the Most Beneficent (Allaah), We appoint for him a shaytaan (devil) to be a qareen (intimate companion) to him.’ [al-Zukhruf 43:36].” Al-Fawaa’id, p. 159
InshaAllaah let us all aspire to be of the ones whom Allaah is pleased with due to our constant remembrance of Him. Wallaahil ‘adheem, I am the one needing this reminder the most, but I thought I can perhaps benefit everyone else by sharing.
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12.09.08
Posted in Random at 12:38 am by salafiya
Assalam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah
So….been quite a while since I’ve posted. Why? Well, mainly I just haven’t felt like it but also a part of it is that whenever I DID want to post, for some reason I could not get far on the admin panel without having a page come up saying “Internet Explorer Cannot Open Page”. I was just about to quit muslimpad, but then I was going to complain to Sas/Fatima and while describing my ordeal =(, I realized that it was IE…And then, bright little me JUST figured out to use FireFox (after how many months of attempting to sign in?). Anyways, congratulations Sairah (if you ever see this), I have finally succumbed to FireFox (for coming on this blog, at least). I must say, I quite like it.
Sometimes I checked how many people were still visiting my blog. Why even ONE person still visits itis beyond me. I haven’t posted for soooo long. Either I’ve got stalkers or people who stumbled across the blog from a search engine. Anyways, not many updates on my side. Please, update me on your life if I haven’t talked to you (friends, Muslims in general) lately.
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