03.04.07
The Lunar Eclipse
As the moon moved through the stages of the eclipse, George Lovely took this series of images from which he created a montage. (source: BBC)
Archive for Current Events
02.20.07
Interview with Dr. Shahid Alam
I recently interviewed Dr. Shahid Alam, the author of “Challenging the New Orientalism.” Here is an excerpt:
Q: After being featured on “Jihad Watch,” being blacklisted by David Horowitz and being accused of being “un-American” by Bill O’Reilly, what was your motivation for publishing the book knowing that you may be putting your academic career at risk?
A: My motivation is the same that I had in writing the essays. I wanted to bring some history and objectivity into the public discourse on relations between the West (including Israel) and the Islamicate world. That was a difficult goal. My essays were carried only on some left-leaning and Islamic websites in the US. I am hoping that publishing them in a book may help to bring my arguments a bit into the mainstream.
My essays have received some adverse attention – even hostile attention. But I have survived, with a few scars. And I am ready for a few more if this helps to advance a better understanding of the world we live in.
Visit Hot Coals for full interview - click here.
01.21.07
The Revolution of Husayn (a)
The revolution of Husain (pbuh) was an Islamic movement spearheaded by one of the great leaders of Islam. The principles and laws of Islam demanded that Husain (pbuh) act to warn the Ummah of the evil situation which it was in, and to stand in the way of the deviating ruler. As Husain (pbuh) himself remarked when he left Madina for the last time,
“I am not rising (against Yazid) as an insolent or an arrogant person, or a mischief-monger or tyrant. I have risen (against Yazid) as I seek to reform the Ummah of my grandfather. I wish to bid the good and forbid the evil.”
01.04.07
Was Saddam a “Leader?”
Due to multiple requests, I thought I would comment on other people’s analysis and “love” for Saddam. It really hurts my heart to see people praising the likes of this man. I pray its due to ignorance and nothing else. I will try to address some of the points that were brought up, and inshaAllah try to explain it in a more rational manner.
When we look at an individual, we can look at the person’s good deeds or bad deeds, or both. I feel that the Shi’as have always concentrated on his bad deeds. And of course I may be accused of only concentrating on his good deeds.
I challenge all of us– Shi’as, Sunnis, Kurds, Americans, Arabs, etc.– to do our best to look at both sides of Saddam. It is completely detrimental to us all, especially the Muslims to ignore one side over another.
Both sides? If a man prays, yet steals that is an act of injustice towards the people and ultimately towards Allah(swt). And an act injustice, any type of injustice is hyprocricy. Now in the case of Saddam, he definately took part in some of the worse insjustices in the world. He butchered thousands of Shi’i in the south, and thousands of Sunnis in the north. He banned all popular religious rituals, and he forcibly named masjids under his name. He slaughtered hundreds of both Sunni and Shi’i clerics and scholars. He was a secular tyrant, who wanted to eradicate Islam from Iraq, because he knew Islam is much more powerful tool and way of life than everything and anything he represented and adovcated.
He stood for PALESTINE for PALESTINIANS for PALESTINIAN LAND for JERUSALEM. Just to give you an example, he helped the families of lost breadwinners and relatives. He would offer them thousands of dollars and even pay for their Umrah, Hajj, and/or education.
He stood for Palestine? If offering few thousand (actually around 3,000) to families in Palestine, makes you a champion of Palestinian rights, than the United States out-dues him significantly. We need to think rationally and un-biasly, inshaAllah. We all know it was and is a political move. He could care-less about the rights of the Palestinians. Sadly to say (or gladly to say), but the only government that does genuinely support the cause are non-arab.
Like any other leader would have done, Saddam began to see them as his enemy as well. I agree with him on that! However, he went overboard in many events that could have been avoided. The case he was tried for was of his killing of 182 Shi’as in Dujail villiage
Look at this logic. Collateral damage is haram in Islam. Collective punishment according the Qur’an and Sunnah is forbidden. Going overboard is an understatement. Killing children and women based on their religious affiliation is wrong. And labeling all Shi’a arabs as “Iranian Agents” is wrong. He certainly did send a message to all. That he does not care about the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters. He has no compassion for women and children. And no shame for allowing women to be raped and harassed.
Todays Iraqi gov’t is an illegitimate gov’t! The Sunnis boycotted the gov’t, it was implemented by the US and it is controlled by men and militias that are as evil as you can be (i.e. Muqtada).
Today’s government is as illegitimate as Saddam’s “government.” Both governments were installed by the United States. And both are puppets of the West. So, according to this person’s own arguement, everything Saddam did is now nullified, since he was an illegitimate leader. And do you have evidence that Muqtada al-Sadr, whom by the way supports the rights of Palestinians, and builds hospitals and schools, ordered anyone to take part in “evil” acts?
Saddam was not tried for his actions against the Sunnis (very rare crimes) nor his actions agaisnt the Kurds. He was only tried for his actions agaisnt Shi’as, the same people in charge of the Iraqi gov’t and court system.
Saddam was not tried for a lot of his atrocities, because he was only executed for his killings in Dujail. And I explained why earlier posts. This person has also fallen victim to the US strategy of “divide and conquer.” Its absurd to categorize Iraqis into “Sunni”, “Shi’a” and then “Kurds.” First of all Sunni and Shi’a is a religious denomination, while Kurd is a ethnical denomination. We are all forgetting that Kurds are mostly Sunni (approx. 90%). Hence, he killed thousands of Sunnis. Lets get the facts straight. He rarely committed crimes against “Sunni Iraqi Arabs.” I say Iraqi, because we all know how he treated the Sunni gulf arabs.
Saddam was not a leader, because he was installed by the United States. And then strenghtened by the United States and then further strengthened by the United States (UN Sanctions). And finally ultimately met his fate under occupation by the United States. An oppressor killed an oppressor. He was an illegitimate leader, who oppressed his own people. He tried to replace Islam with “Arabism.” May Allah unite and guide us all. Ameen.
“O you who believe, Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin; and whether it be against rich or poor… (4:135)”
01.01.07
My Intentions and Motives on the Footage
A few people showed concern about the motives and intentions behind my posting of the hanging. No one is enjoying his hanging. People are relieved and happy that an oppressor has met justice. Again, no one is celebrating his actual method of death. I personally feel at ease. He burned entire families alive in the southern and northen Iraq. He gassed his own people until suffocation and left their bodies to rot, so the vultures can feast on them. He persecuted and imprisoned anyone who even dream to practice any ritual/tradition that was affiliated with Shi’i. Over a 100 Shi’i and Kurdish scholars were martyed under his era. His demise is a time of relief and reflection. Actually, in my opinion, he actually should have gotten more for the atrocities he committed, but Allahu alim. And for those who say “…but he is a Muslim”, Yazeed (l) was also a “Muslim,” but he martyed and starved the Prophet’s family. Furthermore, Saddam never showed any signs of repetence or regret. As we all know the hypocrites in God’s eye are worse than the un-believer.
We are simply celebrating justice prevailing.
12.12.06
Free Lebanon
Something is happening in Lebanon. The Western Media has really shied away from covering it. This has been the biggest demonstration (much bigger than the “Cedar Revolution”) in Lebanon’s history.
In many ways, Hezbollah has adopted a strategy that has been cheered by the White House in the past, in places like Ukraine, and even Lebanon itself, leaning on large, peaceful crowds to force unpopular governments to resign and pave the way for elections. But this time Washington and its allies have said the protest amounts to a coup d’état, fueling charges that America supports democratic practices only when its allies are winning.
“Does Bush want national expression in Lebanon?” Sheik Qassem said to the crowd. “Does the West and Arabs want the voice of the people in Lebanon? Tell them, ‘Death to America.’ Tell them, ‘Death to Israel.’ Tell them, ‘Glory to a free Lebanon.’ ”
The economy has been brought to a stand-still with companies admitting the loss of millions. The streets are jam-packed. Almost half of the population of Lebanon (4 million) have been attending! People have been protesting peacefully for more than ten days that even the “Prime Minister” is shocked and surprised.
The pounding of martial music, the roaring din of the excited crowd floated up a nearby hill to pierce the thick walls of the stately government building, the Grand Serail, as Prime Minister Fouad Sinoria, entered a ceremonial room for a news conference. “I don’t understand what is this great cause that is making them create this tense political mess and stage open ended demonstrations,” he said to a small group of reporters.
People want change. And they want change now.
A banner that hung down the side of a building, showing a picture of the prime minister hugging Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “Thanks Condy,” it said just beneath another image of dead children, referring to Lebanese civilian casualties during Israel’s war with the militant Shiite group Hezbollah during the summer.
“There is no longer a place for America in Lebanon,” Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said in remarks that boomed through loudspeakers.
This is the first time all of the Shi’a Muslims are under one banner (the biggest group in Lebanon). This is the first time where there is an alliance amongst the Shi’a, the largest Christain movement and Sunni Muslims (there are joint prayers being held all over Beirut). Here are some pictures from the rally (orange represents the “Free Patriotic Movement” the largest Christain party in Lebanon that is aligned with Hizbollah and the yellow represents Hizbollah, the largest political party in Lebanon).
source: Global Research, Michael Slackman
12.03.06
Human Limb Regeneration?
It just may be possible (at least at the Salk!)…
The ability to regenerate limbs is an enviable ability possessed by many vertebrate embryos, and occurs in a variety of adult animals such as salamanders, hydra, horseshoe crabs and a particular species of mouse.
Most mammals exhibit extremely limited regenerative abilities, not on par with those of salamanders. Examples of mammalian regeneration include antlers, fingertips and holes in ears.
An understanding of the processes behind regeneration could lead to better treatment for individuals with nerve injuries (such as those resulting from a broken back or a polio infection), missing limbs, and/or damaged or destroyed organs. Scientists may indeed be one step closer to developing such treatments.
Researchers at the La Jolla, California based Salk Institute have succeeded in stimulating limb regeneration in a developing chick embryo — a species not known to possess regenerative ability. The results of this study further suggest that all organisms, including humans, posses some degree of regenerative potential. It appears that the ability to regenerate limbs is an ability that has been lost or otherwise suppressed in most organisms.
Stimulating the regeneration of lost limbs is perhaps as simple as activating a genetic program already present.
The results of this study, published in the Advance Online Genes and Development on Nov. 17, suggest exactly this. The study’s lead author, Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, Ph.D. explains: “In this simple experiment, we removed part of the chick embryo’s wing, activated Wnt signaling, and got the whole limb back — a beautiful and perfect wing.
“By changing the expression of a few genes, you can change the ability of a vertebrate to regenerate their limbs, rebuilding blood vessels, bone, muscles, and skin — everything that is needed.”
While newly developed and technically immature, research such as this serves a fresh beacon of hope for those suffering some sort of degenerative limb disease and those who’ve lost limbs to amputations, etc. While this technology is undeniably years from practical application in human medicine, it is undeniably a step — if not a giant leap, in the right direction.
(source and full article: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200661129033)
12.01.06
Nearly One Million Demonstrate!
We will see what happens. InshaAllah, may the truthful be victorious.
Huge Beirut rally demands changeHundreds of thousands of supporters of Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies have held a mass rally in Beirut to protest against Lebanon’s government. Amid tight security, demonstrators chanted slogans denouncing Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The opposition says it will keep up the pressure until the government resigns.
The protest follows weeks of rising tension in Lebanon, with the killing of a leading anti-Syrian politician and resignations from the cabinet.
Protest camp The huge crowd turned central Beirut into a sea of red and white Lebanese flags.Hezbollah leaders had asked people not to wave the yellow flag of their movement, which features a fist holding a Kalashnikov rifle.
We appeal to all Lebanese, from every region and political movement… to rid us of an incapable government
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah
Hezbollah leader
The noisy but peaceful crowd filled Riad Solh Square, in front of Mr Siniora’s office, says the BBC’s Simon Wilson in Beirut.Mr Siniora and some of his ministers were inside, just metres away, and will have heard the deafening music and speeches, our correspondent says.The army and police mounted a large security operation, closing off the prime minister’s office and other key buildings with barbed wire and armoured vehicles.As night fell, the main protest broke up but many people were setting up a camp outside Mr Siniora’s office, saying they would stay until the government resigned.
‘Attempted coup’
During the afternoon, the huge crowd listened to Hezbollah songs and speeches.
Police estimated its size at 800,000 people, but Hezbollah claimed it was larger, the Associated Press news agency said.Speaking from behind a bullet-proof glass screen, Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun told the cheering crowd that the current government was unconstitutional and should resign.He said they had “made corruption a daily affair”.Mr Siniora’s government has vowed to stand firm against what he has called an attempted coup.
“Lebanon’s independence is threatened and its democratic system is in danger,” he said on Thursday.
Under Lebanon’s constitution, the death or resignation of another two ministers will automatically topple it.
‘Syrian troops’
Hezbollah has been demanding a bigger share in the cabinet that would give it the power to veto government decisions.
The government came to office last year in the first election held after the withdrawal of Syrian troops originally stationed in Lebanon during the civil war.Syria was forced to withdraw its military presence after massive street protests and international pressure, triggered by the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.A UN investigation has implicated several Syrian officials in the killing, although Syria has denied any involvement.The government in Beirut has also accused Damascus of ordering the assassination on 21 November of anti-Syrian cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6197992.stm
11.30.06
Lebanon Showdown
“We appeal to all Lebanese, from every region and political movement, to take part in a peaceful and civilised demonstration on Friday to rid us of an incapable government that has failed in its mission.”
-Shaykh Hassan Nasrullah
11.16.06
Police Brutality: Iranian American Tasered in Library!
This is what secret police do in third world countries, not in “civilized” countries. You do not taser someone that shows no threat, and then ask him to get up, so you can taser him more. Please protest, write something, and make people aware! Youtube video (cell phone video)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3GstYOIc0I
UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.
No university police officers were available to comment further about the incident as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, and no Community Service Officers who were on duty at the time could be reached.
At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.
The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.
The student began to yell “get off me,” repeating himself several times.
It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.
UCPD officers confirmed that the man involved in the incident was a student, but did not give a name or any additional information about his identity.
Video shot from a student’s camera phone captured the student yelling, “Here’s your Patriot Act, here’s your fucking abuse of power,” while he struggled with the officers.
As the student was screaming, UCPD officers repeatedly told him to stand up and said “stop fighting us.” The student did not stand up as the officers requested and they shot him with the Taser at least once more.
“It was the most disgusting and vile act I had ever seen in my life,” said David Remesnitsky, a 2006 UCLA alumnus who witnessed the incident.
As the student and the officers were struggling, bystanders repeatedly asked the police officers to stop, and at one point officers told the gathered crowd to stand back and threatened to use a Taser on anyone who got too close.
Laila Gordy, a fourth-year economics student who was present in the library during the incident, said police officers threatened to shoot her with a Taser when she asked an officer for his name and his badge number.
Gordy was visibly upset by the incident and said other students were also disturbed.
“It’s a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA,” she said. “It was unnecessary what they did.”
Immediately after the incident, several students began to contact local news outlets, informing them of the incident, and Remesnitsky wrote an e-mail to Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams.
11.13.06
“Beyond Belief”
A really interesting debate/discussion took place where I work. Some of the best scientists gathered and discussed “whether faith in science can ever substitute for belief in God.” A great deal, if not all of them, had Christian roots, so their perception of God and faith came from there. The majority of them did not believe in God, or were not sure of it, but they were very sympathetic to the idea, and did in fact conclude that science can never substitute the belief of God. As a Muslim, our perspective and perception of God is much different than the Christian concept of God, so I wonder what would have resulted if any of them had that concept in their mind. The full article is below.
Atheists Discuss the Benefits of Faith
A gathering of scientists and atheists explores whether faith in
science can ever substitute for belief in God.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Jerry Adler
Newsweek
Updated: 9:51 a.m. AKT Nov 10, 2006Nov. 10, 2006 - The great Danish physicist Niels Bohr, it is said,
had a good-luck horseshoe hanging in his office. “You don’t believe
in that nonsense, do you?” a visitor once asked, to which Bohr
replied, “No, but they say it works whether you believe in it or not.”If one thing emerged from the “Beyond Belief” conference at the Salk
Institute in LaJolla, Calif. it’s that religion doesn’t work the same
way. Some 30 scientists—one of the greatest collections of religious
skeptics ever assembled in one place since Voltaire dined alone—
examined faith from the evolutionary, neurological and philosophical
points of view, and they concluded that some things only work if you
do believe in them. Richard Dawkins, the British evolutionary
biologist and author of the best-selling book “The God Delusion,”
said he couldn’t have a spiritual experience even when he tried.
After another panelist, neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran of the
University of California, San Diego, explained that temporal-lobe
seizures of the brain create profound spiritual and out-of-body
experiences, Dawkins disclosed that he had participated in an
experiment that was supposed to mimic such seizures—and even then he
didn’t feel a thing.Dawkins obviously feels this loss is a small price to pay for freedom
from superstition. But even physicist Steven Weinberg, a Nobel
laureate and an outspoken atheist, acknowledged that science is a
poor substitute for the role religion plays in most peoples’ lives.
It’s hard, he said, to live in a world in which one’s highest
emotions can be understood in biochemical and evolutionary terms,
rather than a gift from God. Instead of the big, comforting
certainties promoted by religion, science can offer only “a lot of
little truths” and the austere pleasures of intellectual honesty.
Much as Weinberg would like to see civilization emerge from the
tyranny of religion, when it happens, “I think we will miss it, like
a crazy old aunt who tells lies and causes us all kinds of trouble,
but was beautiful once and was with us a long time.”To which Dawkins retorted, “I won’t miss her at all.” Only in the
most extreme circumstances would he deign to take account of the
consolations offered by religion. He would not, for instance, try to
talk a Christian on his deathbed out of a belief in Heaven. He didn’t
say what he would do if he were the one near death, but it’s unlikely
he would be calling for a priest. The atheist philosopher Daniel
Dennett had been expected to attend, but two weeks earlier had been
rushed to the hospital with a near-fatal aortic rupture. At the
conference, people handed around copies of Dennett’s essay entitled
“Thank Goodness,” posted on the science Web site Edge.org, in which
he described how annoying it was to hear from friends that they had
been praying for his recovery. “I have resisted the temptation,” he
wrote, “to respond, ‘Thanks, I appreciate it, but did you also
sacrifice a goat?’”It’s hard to be a skeptic, that much was clear from the conference.
Hard for the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the
Hayden Planetarium in New York, who described trying to offer up
thanks “to the scientists who made this abundance of food possible”
at a friend’s Thanksgiving dinner, only to be shouted down by demands
for a proper grace. Hard for atheist author Sam Harris (”Letter to a
Christian Nation”) who likes to point out that people today believe
in God based on no more evidence than the ancients had for believing
in Zeus or Poseidon—with the result that in addition to all the mail
he gets from Christians, he’s now getting angry letters from pagans
who claim he’s insulted their beliefs, as well.The moderate position at the conference was represented by physicist
Lawrence Krauss, who took the view that “science doesn’t make it
impossible to believe in God, it just makes it possible to not
believe in God.” The majority view was best articulated by Tyson, who
said that atheism is not just the only intellectually coherent
position, but a positive boon to humanity. He makes much of the
statistic that only 15 percent of the scientific elite in the United
States, defined as members of the National Academy of Sciences,
express belief in a personal God who takes an active role in the
world. That’s approximately the mirror image of the population as a
whole—but to Tyson, the mystery is that the number of believers among
the scientist group isn’t zero.Tyson is a commanding public speaker, which is why his fellow
astronomer Carolyn Porco, the head of the imaging team for the
Cassini space probe to Saturn, nominated him at the conference to be
the first minister of her proposed (although not very seriously)
“Church of Science.” She thinks science is a perfectly adequate
substitute for religion. “Being a scientist and staring immensity and
eternity in the face every day is as grand and inspiring as it gets,”
she says. “No religion offers anything comparable.” To the promise of
immortality, she counters with the proposition that all the atoms of
our bodies will be blown into space in the disintegration of the
solar system, to live on forever as mass or energy. That’s what we
should be teaching our children, not fairy tales about angels and
seeing grandma in Heaven. “If anyone has something to replace God,”
she says, “I think scientists do.” Of course, it’s not clear that
anyone else is looking for one.source: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15653706/site/newsweek/
11.08.06
Ayatollah Sayyid Mortadha Al-Qazwini
The Ayatollah will be speaking in San Diego this thursday. He is currently in the United States due to health conditions. If anyone has any specific questions for him, let me know and inshaAllah, I will try to ask. A brief biography is below.
Ayatollah Sayid Mortadha Al-Qazwini was born in one of the holiest cities in the Islamic world—Karbala, Iraq—in 1931 to a family well known in the Shia world for its knowledge, wisdom, and piety. His father, the grand Ayatollah Sayid Sadiq Al-Qazwini (shown to the right), was one of Iraq’s most popular and educated Mujtahids. As a distinguished and respected scholar, masses of people congregated to follow him in the daily prayers he led at the shrine of Al-Abbas (as). A void was left in the mosques of Iraq and the hearts of thousands of Muslims when Ayatollah Sayid Sadiq was captured by Saddam’s regime at the age of 80 and detained there indefinitely as one of the oldest political prisoners.
…
Upon the toppling of Saddam’s regime in 2003, Ayatollah Sayid Mortadha Al-Qazwini immediately returned to his hometown of Karbala, Iraq, where he was welcomed by thousands of people anxious to be guided under his strong leadership. Due to the request of the citizens of the holy city of Karbala Ayatollah Al-Qazwini became the Imam of the daily prayers at the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala. Along with leading the prayers, he conducts daily sermons and devotes his time to educating and guiding the Iraqi population, filling the void of Islamic knowledge that came about during the dictatorship of the corrupt regime of Saddam.
source: http://alqazwini.org/biography.htm
10.27.06
A “Jewish Hitler?”
A very interesting read. Support and victory for this man will result in grave consequences for everyone. He has been compared to David Duke (founder of KKK) by the Zionists themselves. May Allah help and protect us from such people!
Lieberman’s views are notoriously racist, and his rhetoric is invariably violent. He called for the execution of Israeli Arab members of the Knesset who met with Hamas or didn’t celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. His party, Yisrael Beytenu (”Israel is our Home”), accuses Israeli Arabs of “dual loyalty” on account of their ethnicity, and advocates the complete separation of the Israeli and Arab populations in Palestine – in effect, forced transfer. Lieberman and his followers vehemently oppose the peace process, support the militant settlement movement, and are proud partisans of ethnic cleansing.
In 2002, Lieberman averred that he wouldn’t flinch at ordering the IDF into the occupied territories on the West Bank for 48 hours, an operation designed to “Destroy the foundation of all the [Palestinian] authority’s military infrastructure … not leave one stone on another. Destroy everything.” Civilian targets included: that same year he also argued the Israeli air force should bomb all Palestinian commercial centers, including banks and even gas stations.
Lieberman’s portfolio as minister in charge of strategic threats allowed the editors of Ha’aretz to quip “Lieberman is a strategic threat!” Here, after all, is a man who has threatened to bomb Tehran, the Aswan Dam, and Beirut. His entry into the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, in coalition with Kadima and Labor, marks an ominous shift in the stance of the Jewish state.
read more about Avigdor Lieberman