The trouble in between: Thailand's restive south and Malaysia

Current affairs The trouble in between: Thailand's restive south and Malaysia Buddhist militia taking revenge for Muslim attacks? This mutual mistrust will keep Malaysia on the sidelines, in contrast to the southern Philippines, where it has played a useful role in hosting peace talks between Muslim rebels and government negotiators (see article below). But the conflict in Mindanao points both to the difficulty of striking political settlements with fractious rebels and of the dangers of fighting fire with fire. Private armies there began as self-defence against Muslim insurgents. Southern Thailand is increasingly awash with privately owned guns, including those provided by the authorities to village self-defence groups and other paramilitary forces. The killing in June of ten Muslims inside a mosque has been blamed on a Buddhist militia, which was probably taking revenge for Muslim attacks. The cycle of violence is far from over. A martial plan? Violence in Mindanao Successive administrations have allowed warlords to dominate parts of the country, using private armies to keep voters in line and to keep communist or Muslim separatist guerrillas out. The Ampatuan alleged to be the mastermind of the massacre blamed it on Muslim separatists of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which this week resumed peace talks (in Kuala Lumpur) with the government after a hiatus of over a year. The MILF denied the accusation. Its fighters hold sway over parts of Maguindanao, and these areas are not covered by the martial-law declaration. Nor is the area around Prosperidad, where, in a seemingly unrelated incident, gunmen this week abducted 65 students and a teacher from a school. The Economist, London More...

Islam and Pluralism PILGRIMAGE FOR PEACE – FROM AYODHYA TO AJMER The peace pilgrimage was planned from Ayodhya and was to end in Ajmer for symbolic reasons. Ayodhya is, on one hand, a Hindu holy city as well as a city of composite culture. In Ayodhya there are religious places of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Jains. It is as much city of temples as city of Sufi mausoleums and mosques. Historically it has had large Muslim population. Some Muslims believe two prophets Hazrat Shish and Hazrat Nuh are buried there. The Naugazi qabar (a very long shaped grave) is said to be of Hazrat Nuh, the 2nd major prophet in Qur'an.  Ajmer is a Muslim holy city where there is mausoleum of famous sufi saint of Indian subcontinent Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti. But Ajmer is also a city of composite culture as there are holy places belonging to Sikhs, Hindus (Pushkar) and Parsis. Even otherwise the Dargah of Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti is visited by members of all religious communities, not only Muslims. The way peace marchers were received throughout the root made it obvious that common people are for peace and harmony and not for conflict and blood shedding in the name of religion, it is only unscrupulous politicians who grossly misuse religion to make us fight for grabbing our votes and coming to power. I strongly feel such yatras for direct contact to people should be more frequently organized. Rath yatras are not the monopoly of communal forces alone.  -- Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer More...

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad Pakistan Willing To Overlook Ties That Bind: Lashkar And The Global Jihad Meanwhile, the Lashkar's public posture became increasingly anti-West. On the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Saeed declared that the "western world is terrorising Muslims. We are being invaded, humiliated, manipulated and looted. How else can we respond but through jihad?" He called for a "fight against the evil trio, America, Israel and India." By 2007, Saeed had become frankly hostile to the Pakistani establishment. In one speech reported on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa website, he demanded that Pakistan stop "trying to please the Christians and the Jews." Later, he argued that "Muslim rulers have disappointed the Ummah [worldwide Muslim community]. It is time to wage jihad against them. They are not Muslims. They are the agents of Jews." Like it did before September 2001, the Pakistani state seems willing to overlook such language, perhaps perceiving the Lashkar to be of instrumental utility in pursuing its tactical objectives against India. But, the evidence suggests, the price for this policy will be increasingly paid across the world — not just in India. --Praveen Swami More...

Urdu Section Dowry and Mehr in an Islamic marriage: Chapter 38 of Maulvi Imtiaz Ali's classic 'Rights of Women' More...

Islamic Sharia Laws Stone-age Sentence: Islamic militants stone man to death for adultery in Somalia as villagers are forced to watch This barbaric scene belongs in the Dark Ages, but pictures emerged today of a group of Islamic militants who forced villagers to watch as they stoned a man to death for adultery. Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, a 48-year-old, was buried in a hole up to his chest and pelted with rocks until he died. The group responsible, Hizbul Islam, also shot dead a man they claimed was a murderer. But the verdict was so shocking that it prompted a gun battle between rivals within the group that left three militants dead, witnesses said. The executions took place yesterday in Afgoye, some 20 miles south-west of the capital of Mogadishu. Photo: Begging for his life Mohamed Ibrahim appeals to Islamic militants not to carry out the execution as he is buried in the ground as his villagers are forced to watch 1 Comments More...

Islam and Environment Islam and Animal Rights: "IF YOU MUST KILL", kill without torture (Muhammad) The Quran teaches that animals are sentient beings who form societies much like ours, who live under God's care, just as we do, and who—in a manner that is never directly explained—worship God.[iv] All the beasts that roam the earth and all the birds that soar on high are but communities like your own.[v] There is not a creature on earth but God provides its sustenance.[vi] Do you not see how God is praised by those in the heavens and those on earth? The very birds praise Him as they wing their way. He notes the prayers and praises of all His creatures; God has knowledge of all their actions.[vii] This conviction that animals are in some sense persons, and that God is concerned for their wellbeing, is the theological underpinning of Islamic teachings on animal welfare. And yet, despite this, the Quran is profoundly anthropocentric; it teaches that human beings are the apex of creation, God's designated rulers of the Earth. In Surah 35:39, the angel instructs Mohammad to remind the human race that, "[God] it is who made you vice-regents on earth."[viii]  --- Norm Phelps More...

Islamic World News 75 Yr Old Saudi Woman: 40 Lashes Israeli rabbi describes Islam as "ugly" Violence against women is not a tenet of Islam Pak Superme Court scraps Ordinance: Zardari in trouble Why are David Headley's visa papers missing? CHITRAL: Two Kalash girls converted to Islam Muslims face alarming discrimination in Europe Explosion kills 22 in central Pakistan Pakistan rebuffs US CIA didn't give full 26/11 info War crime case against Tony Blair now rock-solid 'Sycophant' Tony Blair used deceit to justify Iraq war, says former DPP Swiss ban on minarets is generating intense debate in Europe Who Will Save Us from Radical Islam? Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch  'Kasab wanted to confess, we did not use force' Kashmir strike against CBI report into Shopian deaths 'Good job', Rana told LeT during Mumbai attack LeT operatives sentenced on terror charges in US David Headley, a double agent? Jail for LeT, JeM men Obama Administration sends its first report on Pak to Congress Two Pak-Americans sentenced for video terror plot Arrest warrant against Livni issued in Britain: Israel 95% militants in Kashmir are from outside: Azad Musharaf withdrew Swiss 'kickback' cases against Zardari:ex-AG Dhaka: at Christmas the sisters of Mother Teresa, close to poor Muslims and Hindus Osama bin Laden, a myth or reality Palestine is one of the top priorities of both Turkey and Egypt - Abdullah Gul Kerala Plans 1st Islamic Bond as Dubai May Curb Funds Mumbai attacks trial prosecution concludes case 20 killed in Orakzai air strikes Afghan rape victim lives in fear Compiled By: Akshay kumar ojha More...

Urdu Section Husbands Should Fulfil Promises Made At The Time Of Marriage: Chapter 37 of Maulvi Imtiaz Ali's classic 'Rights of Women' More...

War on Terror The Al-Qaeda Fallacy: No particular epicentre of Jihad The phenomenon of Americans injecting themselves into transnational terrorism points to the need to get away from the usual spatial way of thinking of terrorism in terms of some state territories that are havens and others that are targets, and of radicalism spreading across boundaries like the imagery of oozing red paint or falling dominoes that heavily influenced thinking during the Cold War. President Obama used spatial imagery in his speech at West Point. Mixing metaphors of earthquakes and disease, he described Afghanistan and Pakistan as "the epicentre of the violent extremism practiced by al-Qaeda," and declared that "we are in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country." The recent cases give scant support to the idea of an Afghan epicentre having special importance not shared by other unstable countries to which radicals can go. ... The principal lesson to draw from the recent cases is that terrorism, either generally or specifically the Islamist variety is not solely or even primarily a matter of states, sponsorship, havens, and well-known groups. It is at least as much a matter of angry individuals, angered primarily by certain salient conflicts. It is more a matter of such individuals, already radicalized, seeking out groups than of the groups being Pied Pipers luring the individuals. The United States reduces the problem to the extent that it can help to resolve the conflicts. It exacerbates the problem, and risks becoming more of a terrorist target itself, to the extent that it escalates conflicts and makes them even more salient. -- Paul R. Pillar More...

Current affairs The Cultural Plurality Of Hyderabad Is Rooted In Telangana: VIJAY KARAN Hyderabad is bang in the middle of Telangana, it should go to Telangana. The people of Hyderabad are either from Telangana or migrated here from elsewhere. My family, for example, came here 400 years ago from the north.... I have always spoken more Urdu than Hindi. Even today, I am more comfortable with the Arabic script than Devnagiri. Even today we don't greet our elders with namaste, we say adaab. This culture is so much a part of us that when I first met my wife Pratibha, she asked me: "Are you Muslim?" I said, "Well, you can tell from my name!". The cultural plurality was such that this kind of ambiguity was possible. This ambiguity still exists in old Hyderabadi families; even the Andhra people who have settled in the region have absorbed some of this culture.... Statehood for Telangana would hopefully restore the old plural culture. But God knows if this will come to pass. -- Vijay Karan 1 Comments More...

Islamic World News Somnath temple, Bollywood and Shiv Sena leaders on LeT hit list: FBI Muslim students brilliant in Sanskrit China calls 22 Muslims Uighurs seeking asylum 'criminals' Pakistan market blast 'kills at least 22' Military Victory in South Waziristan or the Beginning of a Long War? Transnational Terror Plots Expose Lashkar-e-Taiba's Global Reach Jihadis Debate Growing Rift Between al-Qaeda and the Taliban Terror alert after suicide bombers enter India Rana knew well in advance about Mumbai attacks: FBI Liberhan report high on agenda of Muslim Law Board Lucknow meet on Dec. 20 Kashmir shutdown in protest at 'cover-up' of deaths Muharram 1st paid public holiday for private sector workers 15 rebels, 5 soldiers die in Pak clashes Bomb blast 'kills 16' in central Pakistani town Suicide bomb hits Afghan capital Leicester man tore a Muslim woman's veil Markets rejoice: Abu Dhabi to aid Dubai "Pakistan Army, CIA threat to government" Omar sees democratization of foreign policy Pakistan rebuffs US on Taliban crackdown: NYT Trouble for Gafoor, clean chit for Maria 'No plans to hold talks with rebels' CBI rules out murder, rape in Shopian deaths Iranian jailed in US for arms trafficking plot Terrorism: Muslim families as first line of defense Jail guard assisted in Basilan jailbreak – report Al-Qaida No. 2 blasts Obama, honors 9/11 suspect Muslims In 21st Century America: Home Grown Terrorism Ten killed in Philippine clashes: military Caucasus Muslims Office chairman calls on Sunni and Shia to perform azan together Fatwa on beginning of Muharram month issued in Azerbaijan Serbia charges former Bosnian Serb officer with war crimes Muslim Americans' arrests add to concerns Fashion chain's Christmas trees unfashionable in Israel Taliban Predict President Obama's "Colonial Strategy" Will Lead To American Collapse New Hezbollah Manifesto Emphasizes Political Role in a United Lebanon "Obama's Choice": The Afghan-Pakistan Dilemma Compiled By: Akshay kumar ojha Photo: Somnath temple More...

Books and Documents Maulana Abul Kalam Azad: The Man Who Knew The Future Of Pakistan Before Its Creation Muslims must realise that they are bearers of a universal message. They are not a racial or regional grouping in whose territory others cannot enter. Strictly speaking, Muslims in India are not one community; they are divided among many well-entrenched sects. You can unite them by arousing their anti-Hindu sentiment but you cannot unite them in the name of Islam. To them Islam means undiluted loyalty to their own sect. Apart from Wahhabi, Sunni and Shia there are innumerable groups who owe allegiance to different saints and divines. Small issues like raising hands during the prayer and saying Amen loudly have created disputes that defy solution. The Ulema have used the instrument of takfeer [fatwas declaring someone as infidel] liberally. Earlier, they used to take Islam to the disbelievers; now they take away Islam from the believers. Islamic history is full of instances of how good and pious Muslims were branded kafirs. Prophets alone had the capability to cope with these mindboggling situations. Even they had to pass through times of afflictions and trials. The fact is that when reason and intelligence are abandoned and attitudes become fossilised then the job of the reformer becomes very difficult. But today the situation is worse than ever. Muslims have become firm in their communalism; they prefer politics to religion and follow their worldly ambitions as commands of religion. History bears testimony to the fact that in every age we ridiculed those who pursued the good with consistency, snuffed out the brilliant examples of sacrifice and tore the flags of selfless service. Who are we, the ordinary mortals; even high ranking Prophets were not spared by these custodians of traditions and customs. -- Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in aninterview to journalist Shorish Kashmiri for a Lahore based Urdu magazine,Chattan, in April 1946. This invaluable document has been resurrected and translated by former union minister Arif Mohammad Khan for Covert Magazine. The redoubtable Maulana's predictions about what will happen to Pakistan, if it got created, have come so uncannily true that they almost read like newspaper headlines. 10 Comments More...

Islam and Environment HOW ISLAMIC IS THE ANIMAL SACRIFICE OF "EID AL-ADHA" Not only did the pagan Arabs sacrifice to a variety of Gods in hopes of attaining protection or some favour or material gain, but so, too, did the Jews of that day seek to appease the One True God by blood sacrifice and burnt offerings. Even the Christian community felt Jesus to be the last sacrifice, the final lamb, so to speak, in an otherwise valid tradition of animal sacrifice (where one's sins are absolved by the blood of another).  Islam, however, broke away from this longstanding tradition of appeasing an "angry God" and instead demanded personal sacrifice and submission as the only way to die before death and reach "Fana" or "extinction in Allah." The notion of "vicarious atonement of sin" (absolving one's sins through the blood of another) is nowhere to be found in the Qur'an. Neither is the idea of gaining favour by offering the life of another to God. In Islam, all that is demanded as a sacrifice is one's personal willingness to submit one's ego and individual will to Allah.  One only has to look at how the Qur'an treats one of the most famous stories in the Judeo-Christian world: the sacrifice of Isaac (here, in the Islamic world seen as the sacrifice of Isma'il) to see a marked difference regarding sacrifice and whether or not Allah is appeased by blood. The Qur'anic account of the sacrifice of Isma'il ultimately speaks against blood atonement. See The Holy Quran --- 37:102-107  Notice that the Qur'an never says that God told Abraham to kill (sacrifice) his son. Though subtle, this is very important. For the moral lesson is very different from that which appears in the Bible. Here, it teaches us that Abraham had a dream in which he saw himself slaughtering his son. Abraham believed the dream and thought that the dream was from God, but the Qur'an never says that the dream was from God. However, in Abraham and Isma'il's willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice -- Abraham of his son, Isma'il of his own life -- they are able to transcend notions of self and false attachment to the material realm, thus removing a veil between themselves and Allah, enabling Allah's mercy to descend upon them as the Spirit of Truth and illuminate them with divine wisdom (thus preventing a miscarriage of justice and once and for all correcting the false notion of vicarious atonement of sin). -- Shahid 'Ali Muttaqi 9 Comments More...

Islam, Women and Feminism Listen To The Muslim Woman's Voice It is agreed that in a diverse country like ours Muslims are not a monolithic community. There are Urdu speaking Muslims, just as there are Tamil Muslims and Bengali Muslims. There are Sunnis, Shias, low castes and OBCs. And then there are men, women and the youth including girls and boys. Apart from faith there is another common factor that has acquired a huge importance in recent times. It is about how they are perceived by the larger world as a community: "Muslims are dirty; Muslims are backward; Muslims are not patriotic; Muslims are terrorists." While the challenges faced by the community are of Herculean proportions, the fractured Muslim leadership neither has the commitment nor the competence to address these problems. They are obsessed with non-substantive and seemingly emotive issues. Unfortunately, it suits various Governments that no real demands are made for education, jobs, financial assistance, health facilities, security, etc. All that the latter have to do is to pander to these dubious elements and thus "take care" of almost 15% of the Indian population. The community has paid a huge price because of this. -- Zakia Soman 2 Comments More...

The War within Islam Jamiat-ul-Ulema knows it cannot push women back into burqas Cover up operation It is natural for many to feel that the latest pronouncements from Deoband will push women further inside their dark holes. It will take the community back five centuries. But rather than arousing such fears, the panicky ranting of maulanas gives me hope. It would appear that they have heard the news. Muslim women are on the move. They are revolting even in the tiniest of towns. Making use of the Islamic provision of choice given to them in the Koran, an increasing number of Muslim girls are refusing to marry boys of their parents' choice. They are even contemplating and a few succeeding, with sometimes fatal consequences, in eloping with boys of their choice. In many cases parents and the society at large has to accept their choices. In some cases the girls are even contemplating elopement with boys of other faiths. ... I asked one girl who was planning to elope with a Hindu boy, if she was aware that, being a Hindu her friend was ahl-e-Kitab, and she could marry him even under the provisions of Islamic Sharia. This girl of a UP town of just 2 lakh was knowledgeable enough to tell me that was not the case. Only Muslim boys can marry ahl-e-Kitab girls under the Islamic provision. I told her that this provision had been made at a time when girls couldn't stand on their own; but now you are an earning professional and will be able to fight for your right to follow the religion of your choice, so how would that Islamic provision apply to you today. She said she had never heard such "rational nonsense" and that the only way out for her was to elope and hope that she or her husband doesn't get killed by their relatives. In her view even a loving invitation for reception to celebrate their marriage could prove fatal, so she won't fall for it. The ulema are clearly rattled. This couldn't be happening. But it is.   -- Sultan Shahin, editor, New Age Islam 16 Comments More...

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Asadullah Syed