{Quick Reflections 46} Corrupted Islam 5

For those who have not read any of the previous episodes I would like to repeat my previous clarification of some terms I use. Generally throughout this series when I mention Muslim, or Scholar, I mean the ones contributing to the corruption, which are the majority, and not all Muslims or all Scholars.

To access the previous 4 episodes please visit Adage's forum or the Real Life blog

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In this episode I am going to pick up from where we last stopped and will hence discuss the second enemy of Islam from within.


Idol Worshiping

Early on in human history when idol worshiping started it did not start all of a sudden out of the blue. It was a very slow and gradual process of corruption of the human nature that then became so deeply rooted and widespread amongst all human races. Initially, and by pure human nature, good and evil from within were in a continuous struggle with good dominating and winning. With time people started drifting away from worshiping the one God that their parents, Adam and Eve, had told them about. Not only that but that was accompanied by a gradual decline in good manners and the development of injustice and transgression amongst people. However during that process a few people with a strong will and identity where struggling to maintain the original pure teachings of God to Adam which were based on three main themes, which have been the three main themes of God's message to human-beings throughout history starting with Adam, through Moses and Jesus, and finally to Muhammad. Those themes again and again are the Oneness of God, Perfection of Manners and the Pursuit of Knowledge.
Examples of such good people early on in the struggle are provided to us in the Qur'an and by name there was Wadd, Suwa', Yaghuth, Ya'uq, and Nasr. When these last strong holds of goodness and purity died lay weak people who were their followers continued to enjoin good and encourage others to do so by exemplifying them. For the younger generations who did not witness these people to remember them and emulate them statues of the above five were built and popularized. With time instead of remembering good through them the statues where glorified and slowly they rose in glorification until finally they were worshiped instead of God. Most people still knew about God but to them He was so far and not materialized enough for them to connect with and hence they settled for the materialistic idols as gods. Since then the materialistic part of the human nature dominated most of the time, struggles and atrocities increased, and spirituality became rudimentary. The need for continuous reminders of the Truth and the basic 3 Divine messages arose and hence Prophets of all races and ethnicities where sent from God to remind their fellow human-beings of the Original Good. The struggle continued worldwide and throughout time and until now.

However the need for a materialistic representative/substitute of God had corrupted human nature deeply and was the main technique used by Satin to drive people away from God until 2 centuries ago when another technique arose strongly to work on others who would not submit to a “god” in principle but was still based on materialism which is atheism. Atheism is but a detractor to keep people away from God for a few centuries. However it is deemed to fade away, along with its supporting evolution myth, when people adopt a true scientific approach to the issue. I will discuss that in a separate article in details if God wills.

The attitude of idol-worshiping is strongly supported by preventing the mind from thinking and contemplating, and is heavily rooted in following tradition or whatever one's ancestors did without putting any inherited tradition to intuitive criticism or critical testing. That mind blockage is the main cornerstone in the foundation and structure of Idol-worshiping and its continuity and survival amongst humans depends on the continuity and survival of mind blockage. Also throughout history simple logic, usage of mind and questioning of inherited corrupted tradition was the main argument used by Prophets and Messengers from God to guide people back to the Truth.

The deeply seated idol-worshiping attitude exists in the majority of Muslims and is encouraged by their Scholars. Is that true? How did that happen? Why is it supported by Scholars?

Yes it is unfortunately very true and exists at 2 main levels and forms.

One is more common amongst the less educated population who revere, to the extent of worship, the tombs of some scholars that exist in many Muslims countries especially in Misr (Egypt) and the Indian subcontinent. They visit those tombs to supplicate to the buried and ask them to help them in their problems. Yes they do not worship statues but they believe in supernatural powers and Divine like abilities of those dead.
Actually one of the main parameters used by the British Intelligence (MI5) to assess for the level of education and threat to the UK amongst the Middle Eastern countries is the number of visitors and “worshipers” to those tombs in the annual festivals held in Misr! The more the visitors and the greater the gatherings in those festivals the less the threat and vice versa as it is a strong indicative of how active are the truly educated leaders and what is the response to them amongst the laymen.
That practice is unfortunately encouraged by the authorities to keep the population in their deep sleep and letting them drown in their ignorance because if people become more educated and aware of the true facts of Islam they would then turn against them.
As to how did it happen it started out very similar to the above mentioned mechanism when idol-worshiping first started amongst humans. It continued to thrive through the willing submission of the human mind to inherited false beliefs and ideas.

The second level or form is the more dangerous and subtle one that exists more commonly amongst the educated population. This form did not develop randomly or spontaneously as the previous one. Two major techniques were exercised by religious authorities and hence developed by the rest of the population to achieve it throughout the past 13 centuries.
I will relate a true tragic story to demonstrate the 2 techniques and then I will discuss the form of idol-worship that they lead to.

In the year 204 Hijri the great Imam Shafi'iy was assassinated in Misr at the age of 54 by a group of Misrian (Egyptian) youth on his way back from Fajr prayers. Those youth were followers of Imam Malik and his school of thought and revered Imam Malik so much to the extent they thought that no one should think differently from him. They had been harassing Imam Shafi'iy and vandalizing his house and tearing it down and destroying his writings previously to try to intimidate him and stop him from spreading his school of thought. When he did not stop they killed him.
The 2 techniques used here are terrorism (mainly mind terrorism) and limitation of freedom.

Both techniques are totally against the basic, and very natural, Islamic teachings of peacefulness and freedom. However it is those 2 techniques that are used by both religious and political authorities in Muslim countries all the time against the population to oppress thinking and innovation. Even worse it the method by which parents raise their children and teachers deal with their students at school and in the university. The current corrupted universal way of terrorizing the mind and limiting the freedom is endemic in almost every Muslim household on the planet. Everyone has the right to think, contemplate and express themselves as long as they do not transgress on others.
I totally agree that not any layman can progress the religious sciences or issue rulings and that that has to be done by scholars. However the scholarly world in itself has locked up the mind and terrorized the younger generations of Scholars in addition to the average layman. With time every generation grew up to do the same with the following one. The end result is you end up with a stagnant atmosphere while the rest of the world progresses. Not only that, scholars are looking backwards to the wrong age in the Islamic civilization and returning to copying them without any constructive criticism to modify and improve. They are looking back to the early Golden Age of the Islamic Civilization (the age of the followers or Salaf) and literally copying their teachings and taking it as a standard guide line.
They somehow totally ignored the fact that those followers were in themselves innovative and modified and advanced the religious sciences to suite that age and time. They somehow totally ignored the spirit of that age which was to think, contemplate and innovate and settled for the literal copying of their teachings.
Instead of going back to the original teachings at the time of the Prophet, as pure and direct original source as it is, and work on thinking, contemplating and innovating to suite that to our age and time they settled to copying from one generation that had taken that initiative and were proactive to benefit their own age and time.

In the process of doing that they developed the 2 techniques described above of mind terrorism and limitation of freedom. They managed to develop the ever destructive form of idol-worshiping in the form of revering the Followers (salaf) and many other Scholarly figures to the extent that you can not criticize these people or think that they could be mistaken or their teachings could be suitable for one age but not another.

It is that form of idol-worshiping that has invaded every Muslim house and dominated. It is the persons rather than the ideas and concepts that are revered and idolized. It is the same pathway that was tread by the people of Wadd, Suwa', Yaghuth, Ya'uq, and Nasr. Same attitude and same concept. “Those people are way better than us, we should revere them, period.” Why were they better and how did they become better is totally ignored and lost.

You cannot criticize your father or older people in the family. You can not criticize religious figures, you can not criticize political figures. You can not criticize, period! Generation after generation that has become the theme of the Muslim world leading to the decline in all sciences and arts.
I am not saying that we should be rude. Not at all. On the contrary, as mentioned many times, good manners is one of the 3 main themes of Islam. However criticism can be done in a polite way which creates brain storming and blooming of new ideas and thoughts.

Most of us know that al-Hassan and al-Hussayn, the grandsons of the Prophet are the leaders of the Paradise Youth in the afterlife. Accordingly there is a lot to learn from their attitude and behavior. In 'Abqariet Aliy” (The Genious of Aliy) by Abbas al-Aqqad, he narrated a dialogue that occurred in the last few days of Imam Aliy Ibn-Abi-Talib between him and one of his sons. He demonstrated how he criticized (in a polite way) almost all his father's earlier decisions and actions in regards to the great division and the then ongoing civil war. It was an amazing dialogue in which each of them used a completely different logic to reason their different decisions. Wasn't al-Hassan aware that his father is the Imam Aliy, the almost most wise of all people of his time? Yes he was aware of that, but he was raised to think for himself and have his opinion and independent identity.

Civilization and advancement is not a single action.

Civilization is an attitude.

Once we lost that attitude we lost the means to form a civilization. Summing up Ahmad Y Hassan beautiful article about the causes of decline of the Islamic civilization we can define the following factors;
Political mismanagement after the early Caliphs (10th century onwards), closure of the gates of ijtihad (12th century), institutionalization of taqlid rather than bid'ah (13th century), foreign involvement by invading forces and colonial powers (11th century Crusades, 13th century Mongol Empire, 15th century Reconquista, 19th century European colonial empires), and the disruption to the cycle of equity based on Ibn Khaldun's famous model of Asabiyyah (the rise and fall of civilizations) which points to the decline being mainly due to political and economic factors.
Amongst these factors the ones that are from within and controlled by only us are the ones concerned with thinking, contemplating and innovation which is the attitude of Civilization.

Did the mind-terrorizing Scholars ever stop to think that if Imam Abu-Hanifa, the first of the 4 Imams had thought the way they do there would have never been schools of thought in the first place? Did the freedom-limiting Scholars ever stop to think that if any of the other 3 Imams had thought like they do they would have not dared start their own schools of thought especially Imam Shafi'iy who was a direct student of Imam Malik?
Did the mind-terrorizing and freedom-limiting Scholars ever stop to think that Imam Shafi'iy himself changed many of his own teachings based on geographical locations to suite the culture of not so much culturally different peoples when he moved from Iraq to Misr? Imagine the amount of modification and change needed if you live 12 centuries later and in a culture that even speaks a different language! (Lectures and slide presentations about the lives of the 4 Imams can be found here ).


This episode ends the analysis of the current version of Corrupted Islam. In the next episode, if God wills, we will discuss in general an outline of a strategy on how to counter this corruption and exit our current dark age.

Muhammad; the most perfect human

The Sunnah as Primordiality

by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad

“For the Prophet is humanity itself, in its Adamic perfection. In him, and in his style of life, the highest possibilities of our condition are realised and revealed. And this is beauty itself: the word jamil, beautiful, which is one of his names, refers also to virtue. Ihsan, the Prophetic state of harmony with God, means the engendering of husn, or beauty.”

This is a paraphrase of a passage from Ihya Ulum al-Din (it’s found in the article).

‘The Messenger of God (s) was the mildest of men, but also the bravest and most just of men. He was the most restrained of people; never touching the hand of a woman over whom he did not have rights, or who was not his mahram. He was the most generous of men, so that never did a gold or silver coin spend the night in his house. If something remained at the end of the day, because he had not found someone to give it to, and night descended, he would go out, and not return home until he had given it to someone in need. From what Allah gave him he would take only the simplest and easiest foods: dates and barley, giving anything else away in the path of Allah. Never did he refuse a gift for which he was asked. He used to mend his own sandals, and patch his own clothes, and serve his family, and help them to cut meat. He was the shyest of men, so that his gaze would never remain long in the face of anyone else. He would accept the invitation of a freeman or a slave, and accept a gift, even if it were no more than a gulp of milk, or the thigh of a rabbit, and offer something in return. He never consumed anything given in sadaqa. He was not too proud to reply to a slave-girl, or a pauper in rags. He would become angered for his Lord, never for himself; he would cause truth and justice to prevail even if this led to discomfort to himself or to his companions.
‘He used to bind a stone around his waist out of hunger. He would eat what was brought, and would not refuse any permissible food. If there was dates without bread, he would eat, if there was roast meat, he would eat; if there was rough barley bread, he would eat it; if there was honey or something sweet, he would eat it; if there was only yogurt without even bread, he would be quite satisfied with that.
‘He was not sated, even with barley-bread, for three consecutive days, until the day he met his Lord, not because of poverty, or avarice, but because he always preferred others over himself.
‘He would attend weddings, and visit the sick, and attend funerals, and would often walk among his enemies without a guard. He was the most humble of men, and the most serene, without arrogance. He was the most eloquent of men, without ever speaking for too long. He was the most cheerful of men. He was afraid of nothing in the dunya. He would wear a rough Yemeni cloak, or a woolen tunic; whatever was lawful and was to hand, that he would wear. He would ride whatever was to hand: sometimes a horse, sometimes a camel, sometimes a mule, sometimes a donkey. And at times he would walk barefoot, without an upper garment or a turban or a cap. He would visit the sick even if they were in the furthest part of Madina. He loved perfumes, and disliked foul smells.
‘He maintained affectionate and loyal ties with his relatives, but without preferring them to anyone who was superior to them. He never snubbed anyone. He accepted the excuse of anyone who made an excuse. He would joke, but would never say anything that was not true. He would laugh, but not uproariously. He would watch permissible games and sports, and would not criticize them. He ran races with his wives. Voices would be raised around him, and he would be patient. He kept a sheep, from which he would draw milk for his family. He would walk among the fields of his companions. He never despised any pauper for his poverty or illness; neither did he hold any king in awe simply because he was a king. He would call rich and poor to Allah, without distinction.
‘In him, Allah combined all noble traits of character; although he neither read nor wrote, having grown up in a land of ignorance and deserts in poverty, as a shepherd, and as an orphan with neither father nor mother. But Allah Himself taught him all the excellent qualities of character, and praiseworthy ways, and the stories of the early and the later prophets, and the way to salvation and triumph in the Akhira, and to joy and detachment in the dunya, and how to hold fast to duty, and to avoid the unnecessary. May Allah give us success in obeying him, and in following his sunna. Amin ya rabb al-alamin.’

{Quick Reflections 45} Corrupted Islam 4

Clarification:

Last time we stopped at the classification that divided people into 4 groups; “Theoretical scholars”, “Average Muslims”, “Extremists” and “Hypocrites”. I would like to clarify that this classification includes the different parties whose actions and interactions in life form what we have called “Corrupted Islam”. This is by no means a comprehensive classification of all the Muslims. Of course there are millions who participate to form the picture of “True Islam” and can be divided into “True Scholars”, “True Leaders” and “True Average Muslims”. Unfortunately their voice and impact is less loud and difficult to identify amongst the chaos.
Similarly when I say that nowadays Islam is corrupted does not mean that there is no correct or true Islam nowadays but it just means that the general picture or presentation of Islam is corrupted. This is because the percentage of corruption dominates the percentage of true or correct Islam. Just like when we say that Egypt is a Muslim country does not mean that none of its people are non-Muslims. It just means that the majority (90%) and the governing authority are Muslims. Similarly when we say that Islam is corrupted it means that a major part of the presented and practiced picture of Islam is corrupted by a great percentage of Muslims and their leaders, be that intentionally (due to personal motives) or due to ignorance.
Generally throughout this series when I mention Muslim, or Scholar, I mean the ones contributing to the corruption and not all Muslims or all Scholars. Only in the last episode, if God wills, will I talk about the True Muslims that are struggling to hold some ground.


Enemies:

It is very well known that outsiders will never defeat true Muslims and true Islam but the defeat comes from within, which has been the case for nearly four hundred years now. This can be explained by defining what are the main themes of Islam and how have Muslims dropped them and what are the main enemies of Islam and how Muslims have not fought them as ferociously as they should have.

The three main themes of Islam are the Oneness of God, Perfection of Manners and Pursuit of Knowledge. I will discuss these themes in separate articles later if God wills.
On the other hand the two main enemies of Islam that are within us and that I am going to focus on in this article are the Hypocrites and Idol Worshiping.


The Hypocrites (Fifth Columnists):

When Allah first introduces the readers and listeners to Qur’an to the main three different types of people in Surat al-Baqarah (2; 2-20) He uses 4 ayat to describe the believers followed by 2 to describe the non-believers and then 13 to describe the hypocrites. Thirteen to describe a group that is a small percentage of people and 6 to describe the rest of the people on Earth! All that stress and detailed description of one type in contrast to the other two is because they are the worst and most complicated. They know the truth, they live amongst ones who practice it and they are given the freedom to choose yet they insist on pretending what they are not. Later on in the Qur’an there is a whole Surah in their name. They are a group of people who live in all ages and their main aim is to corrupt Islam from within. There is no logic to explain their attitude especially that Islam gives the freedom to every human being to choose. They could have simply chosen to be atheists or anything else they wish. They could just leave the place they grew up in and immigrated to live with whomever their ideology they agree with yet they do not. The only explanation for their attitude is the one given by God. Their hearts are sick.

They could be average Muslims or even scholars. Usually they are successful and have a high IQ. (I prefer not to use the word intelligent, as the true definition of that word is different in Islam than what it is commonly known for.)
We are not allowed in Islam as individuals to judge other people. This is left to certain authorities in certain situations and individual judgment is left to only God. Unfortunately one of the main diseases corrupting Islam nowadays is that most people most of the time tend to openly judge not only other average people but even scholars whom they do not agree with.
During the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, although he was informed by God about the names of the hypocrites living amongst them he did not openly declare them. He, peace upon him, mentioned their names secretly to one of his companions so that when each hypocrite dies he would prevent the Muslims from offering prayers for mercy on his soul. He did not do that while they were alive for three main reasons. The first is not to shock the Muslims confidence in some people whom they thought were good people and leaders and hence spread a sense of insecurity and mistrust amongst Muslims. The second is not to create chaos that would result if those people were confronted openly. They would become defensive and start mentioning many acts of good deeds they participated in with the Prophet, peace be upon him, to try to prove that he is mistaken. This would result in an escalating argument and up to a civil war amongst Muslims. The third is to teach the Muslims not to judge other people on individual basis openly. He, peace be upon him, was told by God, the All-Knower, about these people, so there is no doubt about that judgment yet he, peace be upon him, did not openly mention them. Accordingly, we, as very less knowledgeable human beings, should not judge anyone person and spread that judgment around.
However that does not mean that we trust everyone completely and act as if that category of people does not exist. We have been warned about the hypocrites and our Prophet, peace be upon him, mentioned their criteria to us so we can avoid them and not follow them if they call for one thing or another. When we spot those criteria in someone we do not accuse them openly of being hypocrites but we avoid them and do not trust them.
Basically, per the Prophet, peace be upon him, they are liars, who do not keep their promises and are traitors. However they can be shrewd enough to cover up for their defects at least temporarily for everyone or all the time for a certain audience of people.

An average one would usually be seen as very strictly adherent to the “looks” but when it comes to true practice he is nowhere to be seen. For example, he could have a beard, or she could wear hijab or even niqab, and always talking about God and his Prophet and shows up on most religious occasions telling you what to do and what not to do. On the other hand he would have a terrible relationship with his parents, treats his spouse and children offensively, does not give a damn about his neighbor and has foul manners in general. S/he is always judging others and is on the offensive towards others. S/he talks about prayers all the time and gives you a hard time if you miss one. However when you ask them to participate in hidden voluntary work they are no where to be found.

A real life example that I have experienced with some of these people is very interesting. Let us say he is called Smiley. Smiley starts a religious group in college. He is very active and attracts many people with him. Some of the people who join are also dishonest like Smiley while the majority is sincere. It is very democratic in that group and some of the sincere people rise to power but they are not aware of the insincere ones amongst them who also have the chance to rise to power. The group grows and grows with many true sincere successes. However there are always setbacks and punitive actions taken against the sincere from time to time. Thanks to Smiley and friends who originally started the group to be able to keep track of the sincere and keep them checked back.
A lesson to learn is to always have an open eye for the causes of setbacks. Do not trust people who are responsible for them and at the same time work hard to accomplish your goal enduring the hardship you will suffer in the process. God is there for you and will support you but you have to take all possible human measures to ensure success of the work.


On the other hand one who is a leader or in a high rank or even a scholar would act as follows. He focuses on minor issues that are the source of argument amongst people for centuries. He does not talk about major issues that concern the wellness of Islam and Muslims. He is very hard on the public and never says a word of truth or advice to stop the rulers or political leaders from their corruption. He tends to spend a lot of time in attacking other scholars. When he sees that Muslims are uniting on a certain action or opinion, which is a rare event nowadays, he discourages that and tries to disperse that unity. They also tend to relate themselves to important very early Islamic figures. They discourage advancement and thinking and tend to be very productive in terms in the amount of books they write and spread.
Unfortunately their followers nowadays are in the millions due to their ignorance. We need to watch out for those kinds of “scholars” and avoid them.

Here is an imaginary exemplary quiz with 6 examples to try to see for ourselves whom to trust and whom not to, whom to follow and whom to avoid (be that due to them being dishonest or theoretical -continuously misguided- scholars).

1- Two men agree to split the political leadership and religion leadership between them such that each one of them leaves the other to do what he wishes and not to harm each other.

2- A scholar praises the ruler and indulges in minor details that make people’s daily life hard and avoids major issues that concern Islam and Muslims.

3- A scholar is constantly praising the ruler and pleasing him and does not care about the welfare of Muslims.

4- A scholar is avoiding the authorities and working on reform amongst the general population with an eye on the general welfare of Muslims.

5- A scholar does not aggressively oppose the ruler but tends to be polite and advises him wisely and is working hard on teaching Islam to the people.

6- A scholar is a “troublemaker” with the authorities through his harshness with them while trying to stop their corruption, and tends to be very patient and polite with the average people and at the same time caring for their advancement and ease.

The difference between the first 3 examples and the last 3 is very clear.

Who Am I? (2)

This story is based on the true events of the Gaza Holocaust. Israel launched its deadly attack on besieged Gaza on Saturday, December 27, 2008 through January 22, 2009 and beyond.

The Gaza Strip was under siege by Israel for three years.

If you went to the Gaza Strip, you would see empty storehouses and cemeteries growing larger – it is too hard to keep a tight hold on one’s emotions. If you strolled near the outpost of the city, you would feel the uncertain freedom or even a future.

This made it so had for the world to sympathize anymore with the Jews’ holocaust, after the holocaust they committed in the Gaza Enclave.

Here the story goes...

I am six years old; I used to live in a small place in besieged Gaza with my mom, dad and three brothers. My dad used to go every day to work, while my mom stayed at home to take care of us, especially my five months old baby brother.

I was so happy this September because it was my first day of school. I was then old enough to be in grade one, I would make many friends, we would grow up together and who knows, maybe we would all go to the same university and work at the same place too.

I love my family and like to go out every weekend to play soccer with my neighbours.

I am doing great at school and my teachers are very proud of me. It is my third month in school and I already made three close friends, we want to be together forever.

Mom said that I had to start wearing heavy clothes because by the end of December, it would get much colder and she was worried that I might catch cold.

Friday was our weekend and we would all go to the mosque close by to pray. I love it there; it felt so peaceful. After that, we would all go for lunch at my cousins’ home.

Tomorrow is a new day at school; I could not sleep the night because we had a field trip. For the first time in my life, I was going on a field trip with my friends. I went to sleep dreaming of it.

I heard a big bang and felt as if the ground was shaking, I thought that the school bus took the wrong route to the field trip or one of its tires blew up. Suddenly, I woke up; I was not in the school bus, it was not the tire that blew up. What was that then!

My mom came dashing into my bedroom, my two brothers were still in their pyjamas, and my dad was carrying my baby brother. Where are we going? What was that noise? Am I not going to the field trip?

There was no answer, we just fled our home and went to the mosque. At the mosque, there were my other neighbours some of my friends and many more people. What is going on mom? Today is Saturday; I must go to school now!

The big blowing noise started to get louder, children started to cry, I felt hungry and...

Dad said, school will be closed today son, I do not know when it would open. Aeroplanes are dropping bombs, we do not know if our home is safe. Dad, I am hungry!

Dad left the mosque with some other men to bring some food.

I asked my mom, who were those people? Why were they sending their aeroplanes to hit our homes? What did they want from us?

Mom said, it was Israeli aeroplanes, they did not like us to have any kind of weapons to protect ourselves, and they do not want to see us here. But why mom? This is where we were born and this is our land! That is exactly why son, because we are Palestinians, because we are Muslims, and they do not want us to be here in besieged Gaza anymore.

Dad came with some food and water and said, be careful we might not be able to get more food afterwards. Dad said that many buildings were destroyed, black smoke was all over and there was complete chaos. We heard boisterous ambulance sirens and other cars screeching to a halt.

The ground shook again and a big opening on the sidewall of the mosque suddenly appeared,

people were trying to transfer wounded women and children to the hospital.

Everyone was running everywhere, babies were crying, blood was all over, people were covered with dust, some were trying to pull others from under the rubbles, the aeroplanes were bombarding us from every direction.

Mom took me, my brothers and ran out; we did not know what hit us! We did not know where to go! I looked around only to see our neighbourhood destroyed. I wish everything would stop, please stop. If you love God stop, just stop!

We went inside one of the houses and hid there. After a while a few soldiers found us, they had their huge guns pointed at my brother’s chest and they fired.

My mom screamed and fell over my brother trying to wake him up, my baby brother was crying. The soldiers kicked us out. We kept running. I could see fireworks in the horizon, except they were all white and fell on the ground instead of spreading colourfully in the sky, and then I saw something fell on a woman and her baby, white smoke came out and she started to burn.

A car came, picked us up and took us to the hospital, the woman was my mom and the baby was my baby brother, his face and chest were so red and looked very strange.

I looked around for my dad, but he was not there, one doctor said that my mom would be all right.

He gave me some water. I sipped half and went to give my mom the other half; I told her that the doctor said that she would be ok. I told her that soon they would stop, I told her not to worry and that I would take care of her until my dad comes back right mom?

Mom! Mom... mom... maaaaaaa

The six years old boy’s life will never be peaceful anymore...

Zionism has always been carrying out the policy of the “burnt land[1]”, under the banner of extending their land from The Nile to The Euphrates Rivers[2], no matter if that was over the dead bodies of the Palestinians or any other humans; the end justifies the means.

‘The Guardian’ has obtained vivid footage of the effect of white phosphorus[3] allegedly used by Israel during a bomb attack on Gaza (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/gaza-white-phosphorus)[4].

The result – this time around too - was the disfiguration and destruction of Gaza City, one can look there at the face of hunger and plagues, the face of fire and the face of death; worst of all - the face of betrayal and the dreams that have not been fulfilled.

GAZA ATTACK TIMELINE can be seen at: http://mapmash.googlepages.com/gaza.html

It is important to note that the annexation of Jerusalem by Israel is illegal under international law.

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[1] See “Wikipedia: Scorched earth” in http://www.answers.com/topic/scorched-earth

[2] Euphrates River history; http://web.bryant.edu/~langlois/ecology/history.htm

[3] “’Indisputable evidence’ of Israel’s use of white phosphorous against civilians” – see

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18024

[4] Also see “White phosphorous ignites on contact with oxygen. Flechettes expel razor sharp darts. DIME bombs cause large blasts over small areas.” http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/phosphorous%20controversy%20in%20gaza%20%20/2909012

Reconstruction of Gaza?

Becoming aware of one’s reality and surroundings, not only within ones arena, but also in and ‎around the world is vital and indispensable to a healthy future of any country.‎

Many leaders all over the world and through history have been trying to mask reality from their ‎people in an attempt to attain their own personal goals and ambitions.‎

Hence, raising awareness, as much as it is essential for dignity, freedom, and autonomy, is as ‎difficult to achieve, yet never impossible.‎

Muhammad Hasanain Haikal ‎ ‎, an Egyptian journalist, author, and politician, gave a talk on ‎television about the war on Gaza and the surrounding political back staging operations that took ‎place before, during and after. The following is a summary of his talk. ‎

The Arab world is on the brink of a new phase on the ground. It is in the throes of a very painful ‎phase, or one of transition, because the US and the West reached the conclusion that, it was no ‎more important that Arabs agree or object, or say yes or no, because they became highly ‎dispersed. Moreover, the most dangerous thing about this dispersion is that there is no longer a ‎party on the ground that could exist for negotiation.‎

In the midst of what was happening with the plans for the reconstruction of Gaza, there was a ‎visit by the European leaders to Israel, which was, at the time, a tantamount to save Israel from ‎the international claims seeking to put the Israelis on trial for what they have committed in Gaza. ‎The intent was to provide a sort of an “instrument of forgiveness” to Israel. ‎
‎ This came in response to Israel’s worry about voices calling to bring Israeli leaders to ‎prosecution, while others called for a trial by The International Criminal Court for the war crimes ‎committed in the Gaza Holocaust.‎

Mr. Haikal said that he was worried that all such preparations for the reconstruction of Gaza ‎would divert all attention to an entire and different arena in place of the political one dealing ‎with the Palestinian problem.‎

While former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, was being awarded a medal of honour by G. W. ‎Bush, Blair advised Bush to forget about the concept of spreading democracy among the Arab ‎countries. He further explained that the Arabs in the Middle East are far from understanding it, ‎not to mention accepting such concept because of their economic and social problems.‎

In the year 2006, there was an American planning set in place to get rid of Hamas (incidentally, ‎this was published in American newspaper). T. Blair requested from the Palestinian president ‎Mahmoud Abbas to work on the implementation of such plan. The failure of this plan caused ‎Israel to carry out the task of toppling Hamas itself, and to make the Palestinian arena filled with ‎emptiness.‎

At times, the US tempts us to pounce at that that we imagine is a risk to us, and when we ‎remove him from the scene, we become increasingly vulnerable.‎

Mr. Haikal is urging all Arabs, especially youth to open their eyes, be on the alert, and start ‎thinking about the US and European plans to dominate the Middle East, but in a new and ‎unfamiliar way.‎

Any Arab country would be wrong in thinking that any other than the North Atlantic Treaty ‎Organization would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza. A political process of an utmost ‎importance, is that there are large amounts of reconstruction would be allocated, and would not ‎be given to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.‎

The Treaty Organization would govern all the allotted monies; NATO is coming to the region ‎strongly. We have to be aware that Israel exists as an associate member in the European Union ‎‎(EU). Mr Haikal added, “Here I say that the engineer of this movement is the European Tony ‎Blair, former British Prime Minister.”‎

Eliminating Hamas is not entirely accomplished yet. The signed treaty between Condoleezza ‎Rice (on her last days in office) and Israel’s Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, was about the ‎preparations in the area without the consultation of the concerned parties, aiming at imposing ‎some effects there.‎

There will be a backlash against Hamas, when such stage comes about and the awakening (after ‎the terrible nightmare) takes place and that is when Hamas will face its great losses.‎

Mr. Haikal ended his talk by referring to a new book called “A World of Trouble”, by Patrick ‎Tyler. The author “draws on newly opened presidential archives to dramatize the approach to the ‎Middle East across U.S. presidencies from Eisenhower to George W. Bush.‎ ‎” ‎

Understanding what is happening around us makes us recognize the need to become aware of the ‎much deviant propaganda that minimizes Israel’s war crimes by turning the world into spectators ‎looking at the crime scene merely as an amusement park, where the Arabs are regarded as ‎terrorists worthy of execution.‎

Clearly, what all this boil down to are two main problems; one is that some people, calling ‎themselves leaders of the superpower and the “advanced” countries, are playing games to see ‎who wins and keeps his presidency and popularity the longest. They are playing the weaker ‎countries as marionettes in their hands, believing that such third world and backward countries ‎are idiots and that with propaganda they would easily turn those Arabs into pallid clones of the ‎West.‎

The second problem is that the leaders and many of the people in the Arab world, especially from ‎among the youth find it somewhat appealing to be dominated, and thus accepting being ripped ‎off their dignity, in order to keep their power, position, image and all false and old myths about ‎the West being their idle and even their saviour.‎

In the end, the only way to counteract all such problems would be a unified awakening; that is to ‎spread awareness and that all Arabs would unite under the same goal and adopt the propaganda ‎that neutralizes that of the superpower.‎

{Quick Reflections 44} Corrupted Islam 3

To set the records straight and make sure we are all on the same page I would like to reiterate the following.
Islam is a very practical and realistic way of life. Nothing in its teachings or directions is theoretical. Definitely any topic or issue that is managed theoretically is not Islamic and if it is said to be then it is part of the corrupted Islam.

To understand in depth the difference between theory and practice and hence between corrupted and authentic Islamic topics or authorities I will relate a couple of experiences I went through. Each one of them could be considered a phase in my life that lasted for several years in my journey in trying to understand and filter through the ruble the diamond from the brass. After that understanding we will be able to recognize whom to trust and whom not to in terms of Islamic authorities or leaderships with a very high accuracy. Once we reach that stage of recognition we can then start believing and thinking about a plan for reform. Until then the corruption will further erode through all of us lead by the fifth column (whom we will extensively talk about at a later stage if God wills).


The first phase was experiencing “Islam the theory” which started as early as I can remember until college, around 18. The second phase is what I call “Real Life Islam” or “True Islam” that has started since then is on going until now.


Phase I: The Genius of Muhammad (Peace be upon him)

Unfortunately adults often underestimate children's memory and understanding. Hence many talents and potentials are buried underneath heaps and heaps of stereotyped school curricula and an unending list of meaningless do's and don’ts being learnt either at home or in school. Even worse they are usually misused to serve the most shallow meanings or causes. In the few instances that parents have recognized and well directed their children how to think and believe those children grew up to be great men who have a noble mission and a smart cause. For example Ralph Nader’s father, when he was 10 he asked him: “Well, Ralph, what did you learn in school today? Did you learn how to believe or did you learn how to think?”
That is not what I intended to talk about here, perhaps later!

When I was 4 years old I remember hearing my father discussing with my mother how they want to raise my brother and me. I remember him focusing mainly on morals and ethics. He continued to raise us in a “protected environment” where almost everything was perfect and there was minimal chance for any form of corruption or evil to cross our path until I was 12 years old. I did not realize that I was raised in a protected (unreal or theoretical) environment until years later when I went out to the “Real Life”. At that point I was reading the series of the “Geniuses” by Abbas el-Aqaad like, “The Genius of Omar”, “The Genius of Khalid” and others. The most intriguingly simple of which, at that time to me, was “The Genius of Muhammad” (peace be upon him). Of course Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has the most humanly perfect manners. However the way el-Aqaad presented it, in light of being raised in a protected environment on the same concepts, it seemed simple.

Phase II: Morals of the Muslim

After I was released from my protective cage to the real world, every day and every encounter with others was a test to all what I had learnt. I was around 18 when I started reading “Morals of the Muslim” by el-Ghazaly (may God’s mercy be upon him). It took me almost 2 years to finish the book. After each chapter discussing one moral or another I would stop and evaluate myself to see where I stand from that based on my daily interactions with others. After some achievement on the relevant moral in real life I would then move to the next chapter. It was the simplest book and most difficult one I have ever read in my life. Only then I started to realize the genius of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and that I know nothing and understand nothing. I had to start learning for real….

Only then I understood how easy it is to talk and preach and how difficult it is to practice what you preach in real life. Only then I slowly started to realize the difference between a preacher and a real practical Muslim living life at its fullest. Only then I realized the genius of Omar Ibn-el-Khattab as a man of actions not words.
You will notice that the most prominent companions of the Prophet (peace by upon him) and leaders of early Islam where not scholars and have not narrated many ahadeeth. On the contrary they all had tough jobs through which they earned money with which they helped Islam. They were not there all the time sitting at the feet of the Prophet (peace be upon him) listening to him. They would hear from him (peace be upon him) and be out there in life implementing what they learnt. That is how tough and strong they were. They were leaders from, and in, real life. They were not theoretical heroes and carriers of immense amounts of knowledge.

One of my best friends, who is a physician, was much stricter than me, in religious terms, when he was in a certain “research” position where life is easier and time is more abundant. Once he moved to another much more demanding clinical job with less free time and much more interaction with people he started to loosen up more and his views became more lenient, practical and applicable. Real life is not a protected environment like that entertained by most researchers and scholars.

It is easy to lock yourself up in a room amongst a pile of Islamic scholarly books and then come out every once in a while to tell people what to do and what not to do. After all you “learned” much more than them and they would not have the knowledge to argue with you. It is easy to direct people and judge them when you are living in a protected environment, where you receive your salary in a protected job, with everyone looking up to you and respecting you because of your knowledge. However that knowledge is mostly theoretical. You have not experienced the hardships of true life that an average man faces. Accordingly your “opinions” and “directions” to the poor average man are not practical or realistic.

With time the rift between the “theoretical scholars” and the “average Muslim” widens because most what the former directs to the later is not applicable and does not address real life. After a while some average people who try to listen to the theoretical scholars lose balance and become extremists in one part of the religion or another and totally abandon another part. The majority of other people lose interest in whatever those theoretical scholars say and slowly sway away from religion. After centuries of that practice you end up with the current situation of corrupted Islam. You have “knowledgeable unrealistic scholars”, “extremists to one end or another” and a majority of Muslims losing trust in Islam as a whole because of the 2 other groups.

However that is not the whole story. There is a very important fourth group that ensures the maintenance of the status quo; the hypocrites or the fifth columnists.

Relief is only but near...

It was cold and raining. Even though one tends to looks forward to these sudden and 'freezing' conditions after nine months of intense sunshine, or rather, sweltering humidity and heat, it did look kind of grim outside. It was cloudy and the sun was just setting and to top it off I was told that our whole building at home had a power cut. There was no indication that it would be fixed tonight. My car was away at service so I also had no comfortable means of transportation. As the car I finally got into weaved its way in and out of traffic I was getting used to the idea of studying and living it off on candlelight for the night. Surely it can't be that hard. After all it's only a few hours. What about those the world over who don't have the luxury of electricty! My thoughts went to those in Gaza. Images flashed through my mind of the destruction and horrors there. Oh what luxuries we seem not to be able to do without.

I finally got home but that was only half the journey. Ten flights of stairs waited for me in pitch darkness, save for a few tealights that someone had kindly placed at the corner of each of the floor landings. Fitness is indeed a hidden blessing 'in times like these'.

It wasn't really something worth fussing about but being used to something for so long can really let you take it for granted. It was cold and I was dying for a cup of cocoa or even better a steaming bowl of soup. I couldn't heat up my soup in the microwave. No, I would have to use the stove, and it's a good thing we use gas and not electricity! Going to the bathroom in candlelight was interesting. It's just like being at the spa I kept telling myself. No tv, no radio, no entertainment, no Internet even, no communication. All that just because of a simple power cut? I guess there can be no other means of procratination and I have to succumb to making the acquaintance of my fat books.

In all seriousness and as I found myself praying the maghreb prayers and getting more and more used to my current situation, it was a case of inner acceptance. Acceptance and learning to be resourceful with what you have. I found my thoughts wandering again to those in Gaza - perhaps because the events are all still fresh in everyone's minds. Still, this was not only about those suffering in Gaza. It was about all those who have suffered at various times. Here I was trying to make do with a few hours without electricity - God forbid - when the people of Gaza and thousands if not millions the world over have no clean water, no proper toilet facilities, no switch that automatically gives them unlimited volts of light, no food, no home, no security, no warmth, none of the basics that we all take for granted day in, day out. It was humbling. There I was fussing about how I will be heating my soup, all snuggled up in my warm blanket when there are children at that moment without mothers to snuggle up to or shelters to protect them. I felt small and insignificant, ungrateful and spoilt. It was a case of pure acceptance and acknowledgment.

Suddenly and even before I had completed my last rak'a I was rudely interrupted by the healthy sound of the energy running through all the lightbulbs in the house. The power fault was fixed! I was only just getting comfortable with the idea of feeling a fraction of a percentage of perhaps what others experience on a daily basis. I was still on the prayer mat and it was a moment of graitude and another different sort of ackowledgment.

"So verily, with the hardship, there is relief ** Verily, with the hardship, there is relief (i.e. there is one hardship with two reliefs, so one hardship cannot overcome two reliefs)." [94:5-6]

It is only with strength of conviction coupled with a deep acceptance, acknowledgment and solid, silent patience will relief come rushing through. I knew and felt this. This then is the answer to everything. All the hardships and all the difficult times that hit us from time to time. Gaza and Palestine will find relief and all those who can find it in their heart to weigh that fine balance will find relief too.

Inauguation Hunger Strike

Gaza is dying. War crimes are being committed every single day, and the world is watching in silence. We have gathered, demonstrated and tried to make the world aware, but nothing is changing and the blood shed is not stopping. Let us unite on the American Inauguration day on a food strike, for a change that we can believe in.

We will not eat, will not drink, and will not stop until Gaza is healed.Please contact the media and tell them about our world-wide food strike. Invite your friends and make the world aware of the bleeding wound.

Gazans are starving, and I will not eat their flesh or drink their blood.

Gaza Holocaust - An online Museum

A group was made on facebook as an attempt of voicing the Truth about what is taking place in Gaza. If we cannot go and fight, let us show the world the reality that is being biased by the media and the political spokesmen:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58342007574The idea of this group is to post all the photos that we can gather about the crimes that are being committed in Gaza that defy the simplest human rights. Posting a photo is very simple, just add the photo with a short comment describing when the photo was taken and what is shows, and name the source for credibility whenever possible. Please join the group, spread the word, and invite your friends to visit the museum, especially the ones who may not know the truth. Your participation is the key to the success of this attempt.

SUPPORT GAZA

{Quick Reflections 43} Corrupted Islam 2

· Gaza and Corrupted Islam:

It is very sad and disheartening to watch the news and see our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers and children being killed in cold blood. Why is this happening? Not only because the Israeli occupier wants to crush the resistance, just like throughout history, but because Hamas is not just a resistance movement to occupation but even worse; it is an Islamic one. The situation is aggravated even further by the fact that the Palestinians dared to democratically vote for that resistance movement as their legal representation. Accordingly, they all had to be punished and slaughtered by the Israeli occupation in one of many holocausts against different Muslim populations across the world that the media chooses to twist and underreport.
Now the Gaza situation is not a unique one. Thousands of Muslims are being persecuted, jailed and killed around the world, in China, Burma, Philippines, Chechnya, Bosnia and elsewhere in an organized and steady fashion, but we don’t have enough media coverage to hear about the details. Gaza is not an exception or a transient situation. It is but part of a more global process.
Why is this happening to Muslims globally? It is because they are living, as a whole, a corrupted version of Islam that renders them weak and vulnerable. The Muslim response to daily events across the world has generally always (for almost 10 centuries now) been a short-lived reactionary one that barely does anything to fix the problem. Moreover, it, of course, has nothing to do with analyzing its cause and working on preventing its recurrence. Accordingly we live in a vicious circle of temporary reactionary responses that weakens Muslims more and more and deepens the corruption of Islam further.

Accordingly the ultimate solution for the current crisis in Gaza, and elsewhere in the world, is a root cause analysis and a strategic view of how to reform the Corrupted Islam and come back to life with a proactive rather than a reactionary Islam. This is how this series relates to the current events in Gaza.

· Concepts:

Before proceeding with the analysis we need to recognize 5 basic concepts the middle 3 of which all human beings accept as facts.


Sources:

Most Muslims will agree that the only 2 uncorrupted sources of Islam that are 100% pure are the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). All other presentations of Islam have some degree of corruption or inaccuracy. The accuracy could range from 99% to 0% but never 100%. This is based on the fact that none of the presenters of Islam has 100% knowledge or 100% comprehensive view. No human being is perfect and hence all Muslims share in the corrupted presentation of Islam, albeit some more than others. Some do that out of ignorance, others out of arrogance and the majority out of narrow-mindedness. Some do that deliberately and others by virtue of their personal attitude in life in general. Accordingly besides the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) one can learn Islam through facts rather than through people. In other words, whatever is said or done in the name of Islam, be it by a scholar or an average Muslim, needs to be filtered and analyzed before reaching a sound conclusion. Human error and bias are always factors that should be on one’s mind when reading anything about Islam, or any other topic open for discussion that actually includes everything in life!

Starting Angle and Projection Line:

This will sound very childish and irrelevant in the beginning but please bear with me! Get a pen and draw a small bullet (point A). Extend a straight line from it to the end of the paper (point C). Now start another line 1cm from the original starting point but from the same line albeit with a very small deviation. In the beginning the distance between both lines is very small but as you get further from the starting point the distance widens. If you start at a bigger angle the distance between the new line and the original one increases faster with further projections of both lines. See below.



Now let us consider the original line the pure form of Islam along a time line starting from A and C being our current time. The distance from point A to B would be the life of Prophet Muhammad and a little less than 3 decades after that. At point B (and many other points along the road from the original line) different Islamic schools of thought came into existence with deviations that vary from minor to major. If one picks one school of thought and chooses to stick to it, with time and through centuries one will deviate further and further away from the original. However if you relate back to the A-B interval you will be sure to stay on the original line. If the A-B interval is not clear then the best thing to do is pick from contradicting schools (lines that deviated at opposite angles) and average them in order to come as close as possible to the original line (the summation of the top most and bottom most lines in the above demonstration will result in a line that is much closer to the original than any of the deviations.

Of course the above example is very simplistic and the issue of change and corruption (and hence reform) is much more complicated than that but it is based on the same principle.


On Going Process:

Complicating the above diagram further and further we can draw multiple lines deviating from the already deviated lines starting at different points along the time line from point B to our current time at C. Depending on which line you choose to look at you sill see a different version of corrupted Islam. Amongst the thousands of lines the vision will be very murky and it will become a struggle to see the original line. Corruption is an ongoing process until the end of time. Hence reform is an ongoing process of meticulous research and hard work.


Point of View: A shocking experience!

We are all familiar with the term “different point of view” but how deep do we realize and appreciate that meaning and apply it in any argument or discussion?
I was 10 years old when I was exposed to a very simple and not noteworthy event that to me was brain shattering. From my bedroom window in our apartment I used to talk with my neighbor in the building right next to us while he was standing in his balcony. This was almost a daily process for years and from my vintage point the view is engraved in my mind. After years I went up to his balcony and looked across to my bedroom window. I was shocked that in spite of sharing the same surroundings the view from his balcony was like seeing totally different surroundings! I had a hard time, for days, accepting that we were actually looking at the same objects albeit from different angles. From that day I understood that the simple change of “point of view” towards the same object could show you a completely different picture that you never thought existed.

The only comprehensive view that sees Islam from all angles at the same time was that of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). All other views are just part of the picture that need to be combined in order to see a more holistic and authentic picture. Sticking with one point of view is never comprehensive.


Who:

There are 4 main groups of people responsible for the corruption that I will elaborate upon later namely Islamic scholars, average Muslims, extremists and hypocrites.