“I’ve seen with my own eyes a gentleman who’s had a tremendous positive influence in the community…he’s done nothing but good since he’s been in the US and many of us are ready to stand up and go to court to testify about him if need be.”

Bill Pascrell, US Congressman for NJ, referring to Dr. Imam Mohammad Qatanani

A Scholar in our Midst
Born in Palestine, Imam Dr. Imam Mohammad Qatanani immigrated to America in 1996 with his family. With a doctorate in Islamic Shariah, internationally known for specializing in Minority Fiqh, two ijazahs, and numerous of other impressive credentials, he was well qualified to lead the town of Paterson, home to the second largest population of Muslims in America.
Indeed, he had a colossal task awaiting him. Nevertheless, he confronted the issues of the community head-on, executing his duties with unsurpassed excellence. Whether it was the daily classes or even just the simple short talks after Fajr and Isha, his massive amount of knowledge left the audience gaping in awe. Truly, knowledge elevates the status of its carriers.

A Beacon of Inspiration (more…)

I don’t know how these Muslims: Mubin Shaikh, alt. Sheikh, (the main mole), Wajid Khan (the politician) or Mr. X (the Agricultural engineer) can sleep at night, knowing that they set up their own brothers and led them into jails, away from their families and lives. Apparently though, Mubin is having some second-thoughts (perhaps with the cocaine effect wearing off), and he is reported, in the documentary, to be backing off some of his earlier claims. I hope Mubin, Wajid and Mr. X repent and ask forgiveness from Allah for hat they have brought unto others, undeservedly [Revised -MM Editor]. The documentary speaks for itself.

YouTube Direktvideo link

Remaining videos below the sleeve (more…)

Assalamu Alaikum,

I had the opportunity to meet some French sisters who are now here with me in Cairo, and we got to talking about the issue of Islam in Europe.

It was actually really sad, hard to hold the tears as one sister (from Holland, convert to Islam) told her own story of how she would remove her scarf everyday when she entered work, so she would be left to wear only an allowed small headband just covering the front of her hair, until one day she broke down crying, and kept it on. A few days later, her boss asked her to sign some papers. She asked why, and he said “You’re fired.” She replied, “Allahu Akbar” and signed the papers. “Some scholars said it’s ok, I can take it off if it’s a neccessity, but I just couldn’t take it off another time! I just couldn’t!” she said.

Another sister studied and finished law school before the ban happened. (more…)

The following piece was submitted by theManOfFewWords (who provides us with many colorful comments). He calls himself an aggressive anti-establishment blogger, a know-it-all and sometimes jerk, and also runs Islamify.com, a Muslim social news site.

So a UN commissioned report comes out and the findings are, surprise surprise, that the Israeli occupation causes terrorism. While it rightly does not condone any terroristic acts it does recognize that they are “a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation.” It also recognizes that the Palestinian resistance to Israel is legitimate and cannot be compared to al-Qaeda’s “mindless terrorism.” To be honest, while I can give the UN a heads up I think the report is a bit redundant as everybody on Earth, including many Israelis understand this to be pretty obvious. Only in America where propaganda and celebrity gossip pass as news do people have no idea what’s going on. Some even believe crazy things like the drivel published in Alan Dershowitz’s The Case for Israel, (a rip-off of From Time Immemorial) which states that Zionists settled a completely empty Palestine and that there is no such thing as a Palestinian, only Arabs that migrated to take advantage of growing Jewish prosperity and created the myth of Palestine and forged the entire history of a fictitious people, the Palestinians. Here in the US this is considered real scholarship. Needless to say, this article won’t make the front page in any major American paper. But anyway, I digress.

Let’s try and imagine how this study was conducted: (more…)

It’s time to set the story straight. As Secretary of State, Rice has said:

“To those who criticize us, our friends among us, I say that the responsibility lies with those who fire rockets.”

Gordon D. Johndroe, a White House spokesman reiterated (at least the US is an honest broker, thank God for that).

“there is a clear distinction between terrorist rocket attacks that target civilians and action in self defense.”

Of course, Israel is the real victim of Palestinian terrorism. Let’s check the facts:

On the terrorist Palestinian side:

• 106 Palestinians were killed between February 27 and march 3. Fifty four of them were civilians who didn’t take part in the fighting, and 25 were under 18 [Source
• Injuries? Can’t be that many. I mean everyone who got injured must have been killed. So, don’t tell me it can be 2-3 times the casualties, because that will just be another exaggeration. Ok, assume 1:1 ratio of injuries to fatalities.

What about the dead babies (baby boy and baby girl)? (more…)

For those of us unfamiliar with Burma, it is run by military (junta) rule, and is one of the most predominantly Buddhist countries in the world. The Muslims there, for the most part, live in isolated regions in which they have their own culture, customs, languages, and of course, religion.

What the Burmese Muslims are enduring

Muslims, particularly those living in the region Rohingya, have faced much oppression in the past century. According to Amnesty International, “the Rohingya people have continued to suffer human rights violations under the Myanmar junta since 1978, and many have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result.” (more…)

Eventually, the will of the parrots on both sides broke down, and they started clawing and picking at each other. As the fighting worsened, Sama and his friends ended up in one side of the cage, while Hata and his friends gained control of the other side. Tsin and Acir saw in this situation, further opportunity in dividing the parrots, so they immediately started delivering food to the side of the cage that Hata controlled. On the other side of the cage, controlled by Sama, they talked about even shutting water deliveries. [from Farmocracy Experiment, July 05, 2007)

So, what I mentioned in this first post came to fruition almost exactly 6 months later. The cats of Tsin (Israel), fully supported by the bulls of Acir (America), did what was anticipated by most. They decided to collectively punish the corner of the cage which was more favorable to Sama (Hamas) for voting in who they did not like in a failed famocracy (democracy) experiment (failed not because it wasn’t democratic, but failed because the “wrong” people got e lected, as decided by Israel and its protector).

While the world protests, Israel continues to impose a severe blockade, which forced the closure of the only electric plant that served Gaza City’s 400,000 residents and one third of the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 millions residents. While the world bemoans the clear flouting of international laws (Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed.”), Israel continues to follow the path of ignoring laws and resolutions as it done for much of its history.

“I have made clear that I am against this collective punishment of the people of Gaza,” said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

Without power, hospitals, water facilities and other crucial lifelines may completely shut off and homes may be left without heat, plunging Gaza into disarray. (more…)

The title initially brought all the Abrahamic faiths together… Initially, I had “Christian extremists” in lieu of “thugs”. But, I felt a bit queasy about even mentioning that the thugs were Christians, similar to my feelings when I keep hearing ad nauseum about “Islamic extremists” or Islamic radicals or what have you. Because really what does Christianity have to do with this, except that the thugs were misusing their religion? Just like what does Islam have to do when Muslims do crazy things in its name?

Regardless, the incident brought together practitioners of the three faiths (one being misrepresented of course), not on an interfaith stage, but rather in a bizarre incident; a strange twist that is positive on many fronts, yet negative on others.

Before you read this story, which is a rarity for its positive spin on Muslims, consider how the situation would have been if the thugs were Muslims? Would the headline have read: “Muslim terrorists attack Jewish on subway, to be saved by Christians”, or “Radical Muslims can’t hear mention of hannukkah?”. Ponder over that, and consider how stereotyping has a numbing effect on our sensibilities.

So, the story goes: (more…)

And while the torture is routine and murders are well-documented, the Western world continues to turn a blind eye towards this nation. Where are those who want to shove democracy down everyone’s throat? What about Uzbekistan? Why aren’t Bull Reilly, Hannity and all the right-wing haters talking about this story? Because of double-standards. Because it is okay when those being killed or tortured are Muslims, even the better if the killer is a Muslim, even in name. And why blame them when Muslims themselves, such as Haqqani and Kabbani have made official visits in support of this dictatorship?

At least the BBC is talking about it, referring to an Uzbek journalist who USED to cover the horror: (more…)