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NEW DATE: Feb. 19 Hearing in Shaykh Dr. Ali al-Timimi’s case — PLEASE ATTEND!!
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Amad
January 28, 2009 at 12:14 AM
May Allah help free our dear brother and teacher.
Abd- Allah
January 28, 2009 at 1:18 AM
May Allah give victory to every opressed brother or sister.
bintwadee3
January 28, 2009 at 1:31 AM
Ameen, thumma ameen.
Allaahumma thabbit aqdaamana wansurna 3alal qawmil kaafireen. Ameen.
NahyaN
January 28, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Ameen
MM Associates
January 28, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Allahumma Ameen.
Omar
January 30, 2009 at 12:12 PM
I went today and they had delayed the hearing. According to the Clerk the hearing is now scheduled for February 19th
abu abdAllah, the Houstonian
January 30, 2009 at 1:27 PM
jazak Allah khayr for that update! we will re-post/update this article appropriately, inshaAllah. (when i’m not on my mobile phone, but at a larger machine)
may Allah reward you, and preserve Shaykh Ali.
Abd- Allah
January 30, 2009 at 1:56 PM
“Whatever befalls a Muslim of physical weakness or complaint or worry or distress or harm or even a thorn in his finger, is used by Allah to erase some of his sins.” (related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim and others)
Alhamdulillah.
Al-Madrasi
February 10, 2009 at 12:11 AM
May Allah make things easy for him…
Faiez
February 10, 2009 at 1:20 AM
Ameen
abu abdAllah, the Houstonian
February 10, 2009 at 10:33 AM
Ameen! And may Allah reward the Muslims who stand for their brothers and sisters in their time of distress and need.
Abdullah
February 10, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Salaam,
what time is the hearing? and you are sure citizens can attend correct? Because someone told me his other hearings were closed to the public. Allahu Allim
Anonymous
February 12, 2009 at 8:19 PM
bismillah, alhumdu lillah wa salaatu wa salaam ‘ala rasool Allah wa ‘ala aalihi
A couple days ago, I was contacted by two FBI agents with the AFOSI-JTTF (Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Joint Terrorism Task Force). They wanted to have a nice little chat with me about, about which he made seem was some routine trivial issue that had suddenly appeared on his desk. I inquired about the reason and subject matter, but he insisted to speak to me in person and would not disclose that information over the phone because airways are public. He kept assuring me that it was no big deal, it was just a nice friendly talk and how I was not in any kind of trouble or investigation. After initially agreeing to speak to them, I did more research on similar stories and changed my mind. I called up the FBI dude (well, left a voice mail message, but I feel cool making it sound like I’m standing up to the FBI) and said “I do not wish to speak to you without a lawyer”. He called me back up and I was firm on my position, alhumdu lillah. While I was at a meeting for work, he left me the following message on my voice mail. Exact quote:
He’s threatening to come to my place of business and insisting that I have to speak to them in a stern voice. He’s also trying to get me to avoid speaking to a lawyer. Standard intimidation tactics. I read stuff from CAIR (Council of American-Islamic Relations), MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council) and the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), all of whom said you do NOT have to speak to law “enforcement” and it is always in your best interest NOT to speak to them, do not even invite them into your house. It is not suspicious to say “I do not wish to speak to you “. For those who do not know, the 6th amendment of the constitution says:
Anyways, I blew a few hundred bucks to talk to a lawyer. He said it was a VERY good decision for me not to speak to them, and it is 100% my right as an American, and yes, even for you non-citizens out there, to refuse to speak to them.
They’re liars. I’m a DEEPLY forgiving guy, it takes a lot for me to say that. They’re liars. Kadhaboon! Jootay! They lied and presented inconsistencies several times in but a few conversations. They lied to my father saying they didn’t know my cell number. They lied about how this “small issue” just recently came to them. That’s wrong, because after reviewing some messages I realized the same guy tried to call me like 3 weeks ago, but I just happened to miss his voice mail message. They lied about how it was no big deal – clearly its something important, the FBI doesn’t spend its resources insisting on speaking to people, and then coming to my house and then INSIST on speaking to me after, try to down-play my need for legal council, and after I get a lawyer…disappearing afterwards. They’re liars, through and through. Legally, they are allowed and protected by law to lie to people, but legally people are not allowed to lie to them. That’s purjory and sends you to jail for like 5 years.
Listen, here’s what they try to do to people. They treat you like a king, are very nice and respectful. Naively, people think they have nothing to hide (which is the truth for 99.999999999% of Muslim) so they go ahead and answer their questions without legal council. Then, the agents either try to trip you up with information they already know about you and you might have innocently forgotten or stumbled over, thus creating inconsistencies in your story OR come back a few months or years later asking the exact same questions. If you answer different, they now have legal proof that you’ve committed purjory. They will then threaten you with prosecution and a ruined life if you don’t become their slave by spying on your fellow Muslim brothers and sending some other innocent guy to prison for life.
I advice all who read this in the strongest possible words. DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM. DO NOT EVEN LET THEM IN YOUR HOUSE FOR TEA BECAUSE THEN THEY CAN LOOK AROUND (That’s what 3 legal firms told me). SIMPLY REFUSE TO SPEAK TO THEM WITHOUT AN ATTORNEY PRESENT OR DO NOT SPEAK TO THEM AT ALL.
Why were they trying to speak to me? Allahu ‘Alim, I’m your standard cookie-cutter Muslim guy, nothing abnormal about me other than I have a weird sleeping schedule and desperately need to clean my room. I’m involved in my community, took like 11 Al-Maghrib classes, donate to the Zaytuna Institute and voted for Obama. Wa-Allahi, Ta-Allahi, Uqsimu billah, I do not do anything shady, questionable or suspect. I was lucky (err, blessed) to have had friends who told me to stay away from those people.
But one things for certain…I’ll never look at Fox Mulder the same.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!
http://www.muslimadvocates.org/get_involved/got_rights.html
MM Associates
February 13, 2009 at 12:56 AM
bismillah was salamu alaykum wa Rahmat Allah [posted by abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed]
@Abdullah — yes, i believe people have been able to attend the hearings:
alhamdolillah alaa kulli haal, i do not have the exact time for this hearing. but if someone posts the information here, inshaAllah, it will be added to the main article.
MM Associates
February 13, 2009 at 1:13 AM
bismillah, was salamu alaykum, wa Rahmat Allah, wa Barakatuhu [posted by abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed]
@anonymous. you are right that the best course of action for most persons is to decline the interview, because the government has shown as astonishing disregard for the rights of ordinary persons in their quest to produce large numbers of arrests and harassment of Muslims and immigrants, the latter often on mere technical violations of visa status — even though the money used for these operations was only to be used to hunt serious threats to the welfare and safety of all Americans. you may think it could not have been a “small matter,” i tell you even if the person who called you told you the truth, you never know how much headache and heartache a small matter can cause a person since President Bush first came to office.
if anyone goes to an interview with the FBI, they should only do so with an attorney of their own choosing present.
and these and other tips are freely available from the ACLU and other organizations. in fact, you probably did not need to shell out any money to any attorney. in most major cities, there are plenty of attorneys, usually non-Muslims, subhanAllah, who will go with people for free to one of these invasive interviews. and the information about your rights is even more freely available than that.
finally, you need to understand that you are not anonymous except to the brothers and sisters who could make dua for you, from other Muslims. the government at any time can use what is called a National Security Letter and obtain almost every detail imaginable about your time on the internet. you’d think an NSL would only be used for leads on major cases. subhanAllah, the government uses them like paper towels.
muhammad abdussamad afridi
February 13, 2009 at 9:24 AM
Assalamalicum,
May Allah help the oppressed Shaykh and help him to get freed with izzah [pride].
Anonymous
February 13, 2009 at 10:21 AM
@Abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed
Ya’ll should do an article on being questioned by the FBI and other such agencies. Honestly bro, when they approached me, I was so naive and so many of us are.
MM Associates
February 13, 2009 at 12:03 PM
bismillah wa salamu alaykum [reply by abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed]
i agree. inshaAllah, it will be one of the articles i work on after i take the Bar Exam at the end of this month — make dua, please, that i pass the exam, earn only halal rizq from the license, and use the license chiefly for my niyat which is to work to avert harm from the Muslims. Allahumma taqabbul minna wa minkum.
Anonymous
February 14, 2009 at 10:54 PM
I would like to confirm what the original Anonymous and share my own experience.
First, lawyers will advise not to talk to the FBI without a lawyer present and I’m not one to second-guess such advice.
Second, FBI agents, in my own personal experience, will use deception in questioning (and that is permitted and done on television shows like LAW and ORDER). They will intentionally misstate something for the purpose of seeing if you will change your story etc. Now I totally understand that they are just doing their job. But bottom-line, pay me the disrespect of lying to me in my kitchen and I say “f— you.” The agent might have learned something if he had been honest in his approach and just asked pertinent questions. As it was, I recognized he was intentionally (and transparently) lying and I was left with the impression that he did not have a very informed understanding of things (or else he would not have bothered with the lame deception).
Third, while I think the advice of not letting them into your home is sound advice (see #1 above about heeding your own attorney’s advice). But personally I would worry that if I act like I have something to hide, they will think I do and be guided by their misapprehensions of the facts. I also think that lawyers would fear being guilty of malpractice if they didn’t advise “don’t talk without a lawyer present.” And then there’s that small matter of business development. The key is that the lawyer doesn’t know whether anyone is guilty of anything. Whereas I do. When someone lawyers up, or pleads the Fifth, I always infer they are guilty of something or have something to hide or don’t want to cause trouble for someone else. That’s just human nature (and usually a reasonable inference). That’s not to say don’t follow the lawyer’s advice.
So bottom-line, while I don’t advocate it to anyone else (they should follow their lawyer’s advice), I personally would seize any opportunity to straighten out and inform an FBI agent. Otherwise, they and the prosecutors will just fill in gaps to their understanding with adverse inferences.
I’ve seen some really lame questioning — and some really lame undercover operations.
Never underestimate the FBI’s ability to be totally confused.
I don’t know if the hearing on the 19th is open, but showing emotional support compassion is always a good thing — regardless of underlying facts or legal matters.
To the FBI: the highest quality of information comes from relationships based on mutual respect and honesty, not deception. The FBI’s highest mission is to instill confidence in the integrity of law enforcement. The FBI has failed in its mission.
P.S. Polygraphs are crock. They just are a means of detailed questioning. They asked me if I was willing to be polygraphed, and I said “Cool!” Then I took them and showed them my dirty laundry. Literally. :0)
abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed
February 15, 2009 at 2:11 AM
bismillah was salamu alaykum, i do not know who you are, but this is the worst advice ever:
you “personally” want to advise people to “straighten out” but you use “Anonymous” here to represent yourself?
wow.
people, i am not your lawyer. i am not your lawyer. i am not your lawyer. but you can see my name. and i do know enough about the law to know that no judge and no jury will say “oh, you only meant to straighten out? you were only trying to cooperate with FBI? you only wanted to protect yourself against malicious prosecutors?” oh, okay, “not guilty” by virtue of being a complete idiot.
never resist arrest. but even if you’re under arrest, never ever talk to the FBI without having your own counsel in the room. in almost every city, there will be good, honest, and capable attorneys who will go to questioning with you for free — that’s zero money — if they think you really should go at all.
as for wanting to clear your good name — the mushrikoon of Makkah and the Munafiqoon of Madinah knew the excellent character of the Prophet sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam. knew it so well they could not even bring themselves to lie to Heraclius when he questioned them. but still they would delight in any fact that would seem to be unfavorable to the Prophet sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam. so they delighted when Allah withheld revelation from the Prophet sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam for a time. and they delighted when his son Ibrahim died. may Allah’s curse be on all of the mushrikeen and munafiqeen who died in kufr.
so do not expect that any law enforcement person who is asking you shady questions has any good will towards you. if the FBI are harassing you at work or elsewhere, a lawyer or even your Congressman can help you make that go away. but if you come in for an interview, anything you say will be considered a voluntary statement.
know what happens to voluntary statements in court? they get admitted into evidence. even if the charge is trumped up. even if you are being singled out for unfair treatment, blah, blah, blah — you went in to talk to the FBI by yourself, especially if you suspected that they are inclined to suspect you? then you have opened up yourself and your family, and maybe every person you know to whatever stupid words come out of your mouth. “we know the imam of the masjid has never been suspected of anything before. but Anonymous Khan, who lives in this city, and attended this masjid five times last month, he came in and told us ________.”
does the picture need to be drawn any clearer? would it help if i use crayon? maybe sock puppets?
want to talk to the FBI? be my guest. but you’re a fool if you do it without an attorney, period.
Abu Usama
February 15, 2009 at 8:23 AM
Assalam Aleikum
I happened to have heard some lectures from our beloved brother Dr.Ali al-tamimi,believe me brothers and sisters i could not control myself.I i shed tears uncotrollabey and started crying like a baby.
I love Sheikh for the sake of Allah.
I do remember him in my duaa’s.
It was after long time when when i happened to get his latest news.
May ALLAH (s.w) make him free from the hands of kuffars.
May Allah grant him Jannat Firdous and i am looking forward to meet in this world in hereafter.
Can someone advice where i can get his articles or lectures.
For one i know he speaks sincerely and his words affect my heart deeply
ABU USAMA
Anonymous
February 15, 2009 at 10:42 AM
From Anonymous #1 to Anonymous #2,
I asked about the whole “Will it look suspicious if I just tell them to go away” and he said no, its better. If you invite them into your house, they have the opportunity to look at your books, random notes you have, ANYTHING, even something as innocuous as a book could be deemed “suspect”. My lawyer told me one story of a person who had a Pro-Palestinian book in his house, and that was interpreted as “Advocating violence against US allies overseas”. That’s so stupid, but they’ll do it.
Pleading the 5th might make someone sound guilty, but its not admissible in a court of law. You can’t say “he plead the 5th, therefore, he’s guilty”. Its not evidence, and courts work off evidence (or logic). Technically what I did was plead the 6th amendment, right to counsel. I asked about the whole “Should I just talk to the FBI myself and get things straightened out?” and multiple people I know, a few of whom had been interviewed by the FBI and some lawyers/law-students all said “No, its never good to just ‘talk’ to them”. That’s what us innocently naive people do and they play games off that.
They don’t give a damn about you, your family, your hopes, your dreams, nothing. Their goal is to send you to prison to earn a promotion.
Anonymous
February 15, 2009 at 2:50 PM
I agree with abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed that you — readers — should follow his advice. It is ACLU’s advice. CAIR’s advice. They have some excellent literature. I was just telling you what works for me personally. Unlike you, I doubt I would get free representation.
Obviously, just as it makes sense for some people to plead the Fifth — and doesn’t make sense for others, it makes sense for some to talk with the FBI and not others. It gave me a chance to explain in detail why my accuser was a moronic idiot.
abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed
February 15, 2009 at 4:00 PM
bismillah. subhanAllah. guys, avoid talking like lawyers unless you are them. and haven’t we gone over this whole “none of you are anonymous at all” track before? i think there should be a day on MM when we BAN anonymous comments. just to avoid the “keystone-lawyers” routine in the above comments.
subhanAllah. you cannot invoke the sixth amendment like this folks. you only have a sixth amendment right to counsel in certain circumstances and when you do, the state has to appoint a lawyer for you if you do not have one. so believe me, it’s not the sixth amendment at work here, so much as the absence of any right of the FBI to take you into custody. but you cannot be forced to talk to the FBI, period. they can interrogate you as much as they want, if you are in their custody, and if they have read you Miranda, until and unless you invoke your rights to an attorney. they can still try to talk to you in the presence of an attorney.
but even if you did invoke the right to counsel, and then you voluntarily start making stupid statements or stupid jokes, or whatever passes for stupid in your brain — because it was voluntary, you would likely be able to suppress not a shred of it.
on the other hand, if you can remember these words — “never speak to the FBI without having your own lawyer’s permission” — then you will probably never have said what can be used against you. and if you simply never speak to the FBI at all, nothing you say to them can be used against you — because you will not have said anything!
you have an absolute right not to volunteer information to the police or FBI. an absolute right — even a judge can order you to speak, but you could stay silent — you’d probably be in contempt of court, and that is serious, you could go to jail because of it. but you could not be forced to speak. that’s part of why everything the CIA and the government do during renditions and extraterritorial confinements amounts to torture — they are purposefully breaking down a human being’s physical and mental ability to stay silent. it’s not “waiting them out” — it’s “tightening the screws.”
you think you have it bad? where you can post your comments under the fake-cover of “Anonymous”? where you can make foolish suppositions like, “Unlike you, I doubt I would get free representation.” — why? have you tried to get representation for this purpose? aren’t you the least bit ashamed that your words might stop someone who needs help from getting it?
or are you so wallowing in self-pity that you do not realize what torture is being suffered by Muslims incarcerated beyond right? if they are steadfast and hold fast to the Rope of Allah, so that a person does not see them complain, do you assume they do not suffer? if they have been so badly abused by their captors, that their suffering has overcome them — do you assume about them what you would be ashamed to say to their faces?
if you find my comments harsh, if you want me to treat you like my brother — then do not make foolish statements while you hide your face from me, unless you’re a sister. ;) and even then at least be umm anonymous, be somebody. or be silent.
abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed
February 16, 2009 at 4:12 AM
bismillah was salamu alaykum, abu usama. forgive me for not replying earlier to your comment. here is a sample of what you might find via a Google Search, wAllaho’Alim. http://www.halaltube.com/category/ali-al-tamimi
ameen to your duas for the shaykh. may Allah make it easy for you to find the material you seek, and please feel free to post links here, too, inshaAllah. i will try to incorporate more links into any future updates i write, inshaAllah.
Abdullah
February 17, 2009 at 3:14 PM
Still no news on the time of the hearing? this is vital
abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed
February 17, 2009 at 6:12 PM
bismillah was salamu alaykum.
the US courts for the eastern district of Virginia do not give an on-line schedule for the courthouse in Alexandria. only for the one in Richmond. alhamdolillah alaa kulli haal.
to get exact schedule information, please call the clerk of the court at the courthouse in Alexandria, 703-299-2100, where Shaykh Dr. Ali Al-Timimi’s case will be heard.
if anyone has already found out, please post the information here, and the page will be updated, inshaAllah. if anyone knows a web page with schedule information for the court, please post that information here, too — it may help in the future, wAllaho’Alim.
Kashif
February 17, 2009 at 7:48 PM
assalaamu alaikum
From what i’ve heard its a closed hearing.
Kashif
February 17, 2009 at 8:06 PM
Please remember to make lots of du’a in the next 48 hours and especially for Allah to soften and sway the heart of the Judge.
Anonymous
February 17, 2009 at 11:49 PM
One of the lawyers on Feb. 2 told me that the hearing was 11:00 a.m. — Anon. #2.
Anonymous
February 18, 2009 at 7:37 PM
Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s husband breaks his silence after six years
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Claims most reports in the local media are false, suspects his two ‘missing’ children are in Karachi
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=20404
UmmOsman
February 19, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Assalamo elikuim
Any one went for hearing ? Please keep us posted – Jazak Allah Khairun.
May Allah swt bless Sheikh Ali with freedom , Ameen.
Wasalam
UmmOsman
Abu Usama
February 19, 2009 at 2:52 PM
Assalam Aleikum
Any news regarding Sheikh’s case,
Kashif
February 19, 2009 at 11:16 PM
assalaamu alaikum
The judge has decided to postpone her final decisioin until further notice on the case. This gives us precious hours or days to make more du’a for Allah to change her heart regarding granting a new trial and the uncovering of more material which will vindicate Sh. Ali.
Please remember to make du’a regularly, and especially at the times in which du’a is recommended, like sajda, and the last third of the night, and like jumu’ah (today!).
Amad
February 20, 2009 at 9:32 AM
jazakallahkhair Br. Kashif for the update.
abu abdAllah Tariq Ahmed
February 20, 2009 at 12:43 AM
ameen to all the duas for the shaykh. and jazak Allah khayr to abu usama who encouraged me to find lectures of the shaykh on-line. even the small collection on halaltube makes clear what a tremendous resource for good that has been maligned and imprisoned for all these years. someone with contacts — anyone with contacts — should encourage the white house to look into the case. because here is an instance where a pardon or other clemency from the white house would do a lot of good for the whole country.
but real help is only from Allah. and while our shaykh is deprived of his freedom to teach, his freedom to spread the message of reason and peace, truly Allah is the true source of succor, guidance, and izzat for him and for us.
may Allah soften the hearts of his jailers, may Allah strengthen him and us in all good things, and may He forgive our mistakes and excesses.
Bahader
March 8, 2009 at 11:04 PM
Any news?? What’s going on.. ??
Bahader
March 10, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Nothing new?
ilmsummittee
May 2, 2009 at 6:20 PM
Please if anyone has any updates, if you can please post what is new with shaykh Timimi (hafidhahu Allah)!!!!!!
Anyone possibly from MuslimMatters or someone in contact with the dear imam.
Barakah Allahu feekum.
Kadijah
December 30, 2009 at 4:10 AM
I am trying to find Ali Al-Timimi for my father, does anyone know what prison he is located in?