Tell Us the Mission

A strong spoken word critique of Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” blunder from tellusthemission.org:



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• Tell Us the Mission

Student Protesters Upset Attorney General’s Harvard Reunion

Student protesters wearing hoods and Guantanamo Bay garb found their way into the US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ 25th Harvard Law School reunion Saturday.

A release sent by the group to RAW STORY claims Gonzales was “forced to leave through a back door.”

Gonzales apparently arrived unannounced. Students met him and his fellow classmates outside the law library where the class of 1982 had posed for a photo.

As the photographer said cheese, the group said students yelled that “torture,” “resign” or “I don’t recall” might be more appropriate.

The Justice Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

“When I heard he was on campus, I was stuffing envelopes with letters to Congress in an office two floors above,” said Deborah Popowski, a second-year law student, according to the release. “I dropped everything. Gonzales needs to know that after approving poorly-reasoned memos that distort the rule of law and justify torture, he is simply not welcome here.”

According to the group, Popowski slipped though the law library’s front doors and approached Gonzales from behind as the Attorney General’s security detail kept protesters at bay.

“On behalf of many other Harvard Law students,” she said, “I’d like to tell you that we are ashamed to have you as an alumnus of this school. And we’re glad you’re here to be able to tell you that.”

Gonzales thanked the student and offered to shake her hand, but was refused.

Following the photo, Gonzales was said to have entered the library, traveled to the reading room, then ducked out through a basement emergency exit and into a waiting SUV.




Photos by Nate Ela, one of the protest organizers.

Source:

• The Raw Story: Student Protesters Upset Attorney General’s Harvard Reunion

New York Times: Bosnians in America: A Two-Sided Saga

The New York Times published this story about a Bosnian community in Chicago.

An excerpt:

A new Muslim cultural center is being built on the north side of Chicago to draw Bosnians who do not attend the suburban mosque. But Imam Senad Agic is not sure it will reach those most in need. “I think we have not done enough to reach out to people,” he said. “I will certainly go there. But I just do not know. Our way is to appeal to the souls of the people who come to us.”

Within the more secular group, too, there are conflicts. When Mr. Mahic suggested at the library meeting that their group also welcome Bosnian Serbs and Croats, the mood quickly shifted.

“Maybe you didn’t see people in your family die in the war,” responded one woman, nearly in tears. “I am sorry, but many Bosnian Muslims will not come if that is the way it is going to be.”

Amela Guso, 21, a college student born in Srebrenica, site of a 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims, sat silent but tense during the exchange. “My father’s brothers, cousins, so many family members were killed in the genocide,” she said later. “How can you expect people to just say, ‘O.K., let’s have dinner and hang out with these people?’ ”

Read the rest of the article:

• The New York Times: Bosnians in America: A Two-Sided Saga

Washington Post: 82 Inmates Cleared but Still Held at Guantanamo

Even though 82 inmates have been cleared by military review panels to leave Guanatanmo Bay, U.S. officials could take months or even years to free them from captivity.

An excerpt from a Washington Post article:

More than a fifth of the approximately 385 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been cleared for release but may have to wait months or years for their freedom because U.S. officials are finding it increasingly difficult to line up places to send them, according to Bush administration officials and defense lawyers.

Since February, the Pentagon has notified about 85 inmates or their attorneys that they are eligible to leave after being cleared by military review panels. But only a handful have gone home, including a Moroccan and an Afghan who were released Tuesday. Eighty-two remain at Guantanamo and face indefinite waits as U.S. officials struggle to figure out when and where to deport them, and under what conditions.

Read more:

• The Washington Post: 82 Inmates Cleared but Still Held at Guantanamo

Gravel Rocks the Boat at Democratic Debate

Former Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska rocked the boat at the Democratic presidential debate, even attacking other candidates for their stances on Iraq, Iran, the use of nuclear weapons, pre-emptive strikes, and hostile foreign policy.

Entertaining and definitely worth the watch:


This clip is 6:43 long.

New York Times: The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars

The New York Times published this article about child soldiers being used very effectively in wars in Africa.

An excerpt from the article:

IN the early 1980s, in the lowlands of Mozambique, a new technology of warfare emerged that would sweep across Africa and soon the rest of the world: the child soldier.

Rebel commanders had constructed a four-foot tall killing machine that cut its way through village after village and nearly overran the government. Its trail was smoking huts and sawed off ears.

The Mozambicans learned that children were the perfect weapon: easily manipulated, intensely loyal, fearless and, most important, in endless supply.

Today, human rights groups say, there are 300,000 child soldiers worldwide. And experts say the problem is deepening as the nature of conflict itself changes — especially in Africa.

Read more:

• The New York Times: The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest Wars

Washington Post: Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went Unclaimed

The Washington Post reported today how the U.S. government failed to collect most of the $854 million in aid offered in response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. This only further underlines the clear double-standard in how the government responded to the victims of the 9/11 attacks versus those of Katrina.

An excerpt from the article:

...the U.S. government was turning down many allies' offers of manpower, supplies and expertise worth untold millions of dollars. Eventually the United States also would fail to collect most of the unprecedented outpouring of international cash assistance for Katrina's victims.

Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.

In addition, valuable supplies and services -- such as cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships -- were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted.

Read the rest of the article:

• Washington Post: Most Katrina Aid From Overseas Went Unclaimed

A Meeting with Allāh

An amazing description of a meeting between Allāh and the people of Paradise.



The clip is 9:02 long, but it is definitely worth watching.

Laila Al-Arian: My Father, 9/11 Scapegoat

Laila Al-Arian wrote this heart-wrenching post on The Huffington Post on Monday about civil rights abuses suffered by her father Sami Al-Arian at the hands of prison guards. While the length of the post may be formidable, it is a very important read.


My Father, 9/11 Scapegoat
by Laila Al-Arian

“If they can kill each other during Ramadan, they can appear before the grand jury. I am not going to put off Dr. Al- Arian’s grand jury appearance just to assist in what is becoming the Islamization of America.”

-- federal prosecutor Gordon Kromberg

“The conditions under which Dr. Al-Arian has been detained both during his pre-trial detention, and since his sentencing appear to be unacceptably harsh and punitive.”

-- Amnesty International

My father, a Palestinian professor named Sami Al-Arian, was arrested over four years ago on trumped up terrorism charges and submitted to a prosecution over the course of six months that bordered on the farcical. Though he was ultimately acquitted by a jury of the most serious charges against him, the Bush administration has prolonged his imprisonment indefinitely. My father now languishes in a Virginia jail, another victim of the demagogic politics of the so-called war on terror.

Many have wondered why my father would be targeted so vigorously, especially after the government lost a case that cost $50 million. But as with its firing of the eight federal prosecutors who “chafed” against its radical agenda, the administration of President George W. Bush has injected its politics into the system, prolonging my father’s imprisonment to punish him for the humiliation his acquittal caused them.

Last month, my father completed a 60-day hunger strike to protest his continued imprisonment that left him in such a weakened state he was confined to a wheelchair. Soon after receiving medical treatment, he was transferred to a Federal Correctional Institute in Petersburg, Virginia. Upon my father’s arrival, a prison guard remarked while strip-searching him: “Where are you from? Afghanistan?” Though my father refused to answer the demeaning question, the guard repeated it several times. He went on:

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from. If I had my way, you wouldn’t be in prison. I’d put a bullet in your head and get it done with. You’re nothing but a piece of s***.”

This is not the first time this guard harassed my father. In January, he told him: “You’re a terrorist. I can tell by your name.”

This time there was a witness to the abuse, though he wasn’t exactly a friendly one. Upon hearing his underling’s outburst, the lieutenant in charge took my father aside and shackled his arms and legs. The shackles were so tight my father lost sensation in his extremities for the duration of the four-hour trip to his final destination, a detention center in Alexandria. On the way, the lieutenant joined in the abuse, unleashing a stream of obscenities at my father and repeatedly telling him to “Shut the f*** up.” When they arrived, the lieutenant violently shoved my father against a wall.

The human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the government’s treatment of my father. “The conditions under which Dr. Al-Arian has been detained both during his pre-trial detention, and since his sentencing,” Amnesty wrote in a February letter to the Attorney General, “appear to be unacceptably harsh and punitive.”

My father immigrated to the United States in 1975 and eventually earned tenure as a computer engineering professor at the University of South Florida. As the son of Palestinians forcibly removed from their land after the creation of Israel in 1948, he considered it his obligation to bring attention to the plight of the Palestinian people from his position of influence in the United States. He held conferences and published literature to tell the story of Palestinians living under occupation.

His activism earned the ire of some of the most reactionary figures of the right, from self-declared “terror experts” like Steven Emerson to Bill O’Reilly, whose expertise on Middle Eastern affairs apparently does not extend to the falafel.

(See here, here and here to learn about Emerson’s long history of hysterical, discredited claims.)

As the shrill cries for my father’s prosecution intensified after 9/11, the Bush administration arrested him. According to an anonymous FBI source, Attorney General John Ashcroft personally ordered the indictment against my father, a mandate that puzzled the many career professionals assigned to the case. The political nature of the charges was apparent from the beginning. A jury empaneled by the federal government would reach the same conclusion three years later, concluding that the Bush administration’s case was not much of a case at all.

But first my father would suffer under extremely restrictive, inhumane conditions clearly meant to psychologically break him before trial, including being placed in solitary confinement for 27 months. At one point, he was denied phone calls for six months, and while convicted felons were allowed to hug their families, my father, a pre-trial detainee, had to visit us behind glass. Even then, he was strip-searched before and after our visits. The cards were stacked against us.

When my father’s trial finally began in June 2005, the government presented 71 witnesses, including nearly two dozen from Israel, paraded before the jury for sheer emotional effect. Four hundred phone calls out of half a million the government recorded during a decade of relentless, indiscriminate surveillance of my family were also presented. The prosecutors acted out the phone calls on the 13th floor of a courtroom in downtown Tampa, giving new meaning to the phrase political theater.

The government’s evidence against my father largely consisted of speeches he gave, magazines he edited, lectures he presented, articles he wrote, books he owned (4 out of 5,000), conferences he organized, rallies he attended, and news he heard. In one particularly bizarre instance, the prosecutors presented as evidence a conversation a co-defendant had with my father in a dream.

Some of my father’s detractors say that his criticism of Israel was overly strident. Often they deliberately de-contextualize his remarks, made nearly two decades ago, to undermine the credibility of the Palestinian narrative they have long sought to suppress. But whatever you think about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, you hopefully agree that the criminalization of political speech is un-American and violates the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

Because the government based its case on my father’s expressed political views, our lawyers rested without presenting a single witness. Our defense was the First Amendment.

On Dec. 6, 2005, my father was acquitted of 8 of the 17 charges against him, though the jury voted 10 to 2 for full acquittal. Those holding out for conviction were the only two who listed themselves as readers of the Tampa Tribune, a paper which had slandered him for over a decade. Two of my father’s three co-defendants were fully acquitted; the jury did not return a single guilty verdict in over 100 charges. The verdict was a testament to the hollow nature of government’s case--an especially strong statement in the midst of post 9/11 hysteria.

Following the trial, the government had the option of dropping the charges against my father, but chose not to, once again revealing the political nature of his case. At the same time, they decided to casually drop tax-evasion charges against the founder of Hooters whose jury split evenly on his conviction.

Facing the prospect of a new trial that would drain my family emotionally and financially, my father decided to plead guilty to one charge of nonviolently supporting a designated terrorist group. In return, the government signed a plea agreement promising to drop the remaining charges, recommend the minimum sentence (which would have basically amounted to time-served) and allow my father to walk free on the condition that he leave the country. Disregarding the prosecutors’ recommendation and dismissing the jury’s verdict, the judge in the case gave my father the maximum sentence, which pushed his release date to this month.

Sadly, our story does not end there. An overzealous federal prosecutor with a documented record of bigoted remarks against Muslims, Gordon Kromberg, is trying to force my father to testify before a grand jury in Virginia in direct violation of his plea agreement. This is a ploy to bring further charges against my father and prolong his imprisonment -and our suffering--as much as possible. Kromberg himself bitterly referred to the plea agreement as a “bonanza” for my father.

Shortly before the Muslim observance of Ramadan began last October, Kromberg revealed an ulterior political motive behind his prosecution. When my father’s attorney requested to delay a prison transfer during the holy month, a time he would have liked to spend with visits from his family, Kromberg responded:

“If they can kill each other during Ramadan, they can appear before the grand jury. I am not going to put off Dr. Al-Arian’s grand jury appearance just to assist in what is becoming the Islamization of America.”

Kromberg’s racist outburst clearly calls his objectivity into question. Another reason my father has been reluctant to testify before a grand jury is because we fear Kromberg is setting up a perjury trap. The prosecutor did just that with another Muslim defendant in Virginia, who was acquitted by a federal judge. Following his acquittal, Kromberg summoned him to testify before a grand jury and charged him with making false statements when he didn’t like his answers. The man, Sabri Benkhala, is now facing 25 years in prison.

My father has endured a decade of surveillance and government harassment, a draining six month trial, and the demonization of his entire family by self-serving right-wing demagogues, all the while hoping his nightmare would end. It should have when he was acquitted by a jury and the government promised his freedom. Surely, the fulfillment of that promise is not too much to ask.

(To learn more about Sami Al-Arian or to join the campaign for his freedom, visit freesamialarian.com)

When Free, Labor Hard

As Muslims, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard of productivity.

فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانصَبْ
Fa'idhā faraghta fansab
Therefore, when you are free (from your immediate task), still labor hard.

(Qur’ān, Sūrat al-Sharh, Āyah 7)

In this vein, I’m always looking for ways to increase my productivity (because, sadly, it's lacking). I’ve been a fan of the Franklin Planner System for quite some time now, but I’ve recently come across a phenomenon known as Getting Things Done (GTD). Though the system seems to be geared more for people in the business world, most of it is probably applicable to to everyday life. To start, get acquainted with 'GTD' In 60 seconds.

Now that you’re up to speed, as both the Franklin System and the GTD system necessitate, an important tool in the path toward productivity is a good planner system. For those people who use a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a program that I can’t recommend enough is WebIS’s Pocket Informant. It is somewhat loosely based on the Franklin System, but is flexible enough for GTD or even your own personalized system.

I’ll soon be adding tips and ideas as I come across them to help implement this system as well as items to promote general productivity, in shā’ Allāh.

The Butcher of Chechnya Is Dead

Former Russian president Boris Yeltsin died today from heart failure at the age of 76. He will certainly not be missed by the people of Chechnya. In 1994, he launched a brutal invasion of Chechnya. Two years later, when the dust had settled, 80,000 to 100,000 Chechen civilians were killed, and 500,000 more were forced to become refugees.

No matter how much power, resources and wealth a ruler may have, as Allāh says in three places in the Qur’ān:

كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ

Kullu nafsin dhā’iqatu l-mawt.
Every soul shall taste death.

(Qur’ān, Sūrat Āli ‘Imrān, Āyah 185,
Sūrat al-Anbiyā’, Āyah 35,
and Sūrat al-‘Ankabūt, Āyah 57)

Read more:

• Wikipedia: First Chechen War

Last Act of Muslim Victim of Virginia Tech Massacre: Saving a Fellow Student’s Life

Waleed Shaalan, a 32-year-old member of the Blacksburg Muslim community, was among the 33 victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. He left behind Amira, his wife of 3 years, and Khaled, his one-year old son.

A fellow student who was in the room when Shaalan was killed credits him with saving his life.

An excerpt from an Associated Press article:

Randy Dymond, a civil engineering professor, said Shaalan was credited with distracting gunman Cho Seung-Hui to save the life of a fellow student.

Dymond, who attended a service for Shaalan Thursday, said the Egyptian was in the first classroom Cho attacked and was badly wounded. Cho returned to the room twice to search for signs of life.

During one of those incidents, a second student who was uninjured, was playing dead. When Shaalan noticed Cho making a move to shoot the student, the Egyptian made a “protective movement to basically decoy the killer into thinking it was him making any kind of sound instead of the survivor,” Dymond said.

Dymond declined to give the name of the student who survived, but said the student wanted him to tell the story “so that the family of Waleed understands the sacrifice.”

Shaalan’s mother broke down when she heard Dymond’s account.

“He was trying to save someone else?” she said repeatedly.

Dymond said Shaalan’s body was taken to a Blacksburg mosque Thursday afternoon so classmates, teachers and friends could say goodbye before it was sent to Egypt for burial.

Please click here to donate to the fund for Waleed’s family.

Read more:

• Associated Press: Egyptian student killed at Virginia Tech leaves behind wife and 1-year-old son

Waleed Shaalan Among Those Killed at Virginia Tech, Leaves Behind a Wife and One-Year-Old Son

Waleed Shaalan, an essential member of the Blacksburg Muslim community, was among the 33 people killed in the brutal Virginia Tech massacre on Monday morning. He left behind Amira, his wife of 3 years, and Khaled, his one-year old son.

MSA National set up a memorial fund for Waleed’s family with the goal of raising $25,000 over the next four weeks.

Please click here to donate to the fund for Waleed’s family.

May Allah grant Waleed martyrdom and entry into Jannat al-Firdaws (the Highest Level of Paradise). May Allah grant his family patience during this difficult time, as well as all of the families who lost loved ones in the massacre.

Read more:

• MSA National Memorial Fund for Waleed’s Family
• Muslim Student Association of Virginia Tech: How Waleed Shaalan saves a classmate’s life
  
• Facebook Group: In Loving Memory of Waleed Shaalan (login required)
  

Fatimah the Resplendent

Witness-Pioneer has a moving biography about Fātimah az-Zahrā’ (may Allāh be pleased with her), the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allāh bless him and grant him peace). It is rare to read personal accounts of her life story, which is ironic considering her exalted status among all women.

As the Messenger of Allāh (may Allāh bless him and grant him peace) said, “The best women in all the world are four: Maryam (Mary) daughter of ‘Imrān, Āsiyā the wife of Fir‘awn (Pharoah), Khadījah daughter of Khuwaylid, and Fātimah daughter of Muhammad.”

Here are three excerpts from the biography:

‘Ali ibn Abī Tālib (may Allāh ennoble his countenance and be pleased with him) Asks for Her Hand in Marriage

Ali, the son of Abu Talib, plucked up courage and went to the Prophet to ask for her hand in marriage. In the presence of the Prophet, however, Ali became over-awed and tongue-tied. He stared at the ground and could not say anything. The Prophet then asked: “Why have you come? Do you need something?” Ali still could not speak and then the Prophet suggested: “Perhaps you have come to propose marriage to Fatimah.”

“Yes,” replied Ali. At this, according to one report, the Prophet said simply: “Marhaban wa ahlan - Welcome into the family.”

Her Contributions to Her Society

Before her marriage, she acted as a sort of hostess to the poor and destitute Ahl as-Suffah. As soon as the Battle of Uhud was over, she went with other women to the battlefield and wept over the dead martyrs and took time to dress her father’s wounds. At the Battle of the Ditch, she played a major supportive role together with other women in preparing food during the long and difficult siege. In her camp, she led the Muslim women in prayer and on that place there stands a mosque named Masjid Fatimah, one of seven mosques where the Muslims stood guard and performed their devotions.

Fatimah also accompanied the Prophet when he made ‘Umrah [the lesser pilgrimage to Makkah] in the sixth year after the Hijrah after the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. In the following year, she and her sister Umm Kulthum, were among the mighty throng of Muslims who took part with the Prophet in the liberation of Makkah. It is said that on this occasion, both Fatimah and Umm Kulthum visited the home of their mother Khadijah and recalled memories of their childhood and memories of jihad, of long struggles in the early years of the Prophet's mission.

Her Passing

One morning, early in the month of Ramadan, just less than five months after her noble father had passed away, Fatimah woke up looking unusually happy and full of mirth. In the afternoon of that day, it is said that she called Salma bint Umays who was looking after her. She asked for some water and had a bath. She then put on new clothes and perfumed herself. She then asked Salma to put her bed in the courtyard of the house. With her face looking to the heavens above, she asked for her husband Ali.

He was taken aback when he saw her lying in the middle of the courtyard and asked her what was wrong. She smiled and said: “I have an appointment today with the Messenger of God.”

Ali cried and she tried to console him. She told him to look after their sons al-Hasan and al-Husayn and advised that she should be buried without ceremony. She gazed upwards again, then closed her eyes and surrendered her soul to the Mighty Creator.

Read more:

• Witness-Pioneer: Fatimah bint Muhammad (may Allāh bless him and grant him peace)
  

New York Times: Egyptian Nuclear Engineer Is Charged With Spying for Israel

An excerpt from a New York Times article:

An Egyptian nuclear engineer who worked for the country’s Atomic Energy Agency has been arrested and charged with spying for Israel, the government authorities said Tuesday.

A government statement said the engineer, Muhammad Sayyid Saber Ali, had delivered “important and secret information” about the agency and about one of two nuclear reactors in Egypt to “Israeli intelligence elements” in exchange for about $20,000 transferred to a bank account.

Read more:

• New York Times: Egyptian Nuclear Engineer Is Charged With Spying for Israel

The World’s Most Northerly Masjid: Norilsk, Russia

An excerpt from a Reuters article:

Mukum Sidikov’s grandfather left Norilsk after surviving the labor camps of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Sidikov, caretaker of the world’s most northerly mosque, retraced his grandfather’s footsteps in search of well-paid work in the Russian Arctic.

Now he estimates the city is home to about 50,000 Muslims -- just under one-quarter of the region’s population of about 210,000. Most are from Azerbaijan and the Russian republic of Dagestan and work as traders or construction workers.

Read more:

• Reuters: Arctic mosque stays open but Muslim numbers shrink

BBC: Advanced geometry of Islamic art

An excerpt from a BBC article:

A study of medieval Islamic art has shown some of its geometric patterns use principles established centuries later by modern mathematicians.

Researchers in the US have found 15th Century examples that use the concept of quasicrystalline geometry.

This indicates intuitive understanding of complex mathematical formulae, even if the artisans had not worked out the underlying theory, the study says.

The discovery is published in the journal Science.

The research shows an important breakthrough had occurred in Islamic mathematics and design by 1200.

“It’s absolutely stunning,” Harvard’s Peter Lu said in an interview.

“They made tilings that reflect mathematics that were so sophisticated that we didn’t figure it out until the last 20 or 30 years.”

The Islamic designs echo quasicrystalline geometry in that both use symmetrical polygonal shapes to create patterns that can be extended indefinitely without repetition.

Read more:

• BBC: Advanced geometry of Islamic art
• Reuters: Medieval Muslims made stunning math breakthrough