1) It has been discovered that there are a group of religious transgressors reigning havoc in one of the islands. You:
A - Send a team of people to investigate the issue, and ask them to confront any troublemakers and take necessary action against them.
B - Invite the ringleaders of the group to have a face-to-face chat with you and inquire about their problems. Do everything to help them and turn them to the right path.
C - Attack! Send the MNDF blokes with their heavy batons to "speak" with these people. Also, make sure you round up anyone in Male' with long beards and black hijabis and remove those offensive items off them! Convince the public that these people are somehow, mysteriously, contracted to Mullah Umar and they want to shred you to pieces! Remind everyone that you acquired your infinite wisdom from al-Azhar and that you're also an expert in astronomy.
2) There have been nasty rumours of your son going wild over at the UK. Apparently he was involved in a drink driving accident.
A - Your son is innocent as a person possibly can be! You categorically deny the rumours and politely ask the public to find proof before spreading such gossip.
B - It is well known that your son has a tinge of wildness about him. Make your son explain himself to the public.
C - "How dare they tarnish my rep- I mean my son's reputation!" This can seriously hamper your chances of extending your Presidency to 35 years! Threaten to take legal action against anyone who spread such vile truths.
3) You've just ruled the country for 30 years, and got beaten in the latest elections. What do you plan on doing now?
A - Retire from politics altogether. After all, you've had a long career and now is probably the time to rest your remaining limbs.
B - You just cannot step away from politics altogether after all this time with all the experience you have. You plan to be an outside observer, and of course you can always offer a few tips of advice to your successor.
C - Make sure you harass, badger, hassle and heckle your successor to the best of your ability with the help of your minions. Remind them that you're infallible.
4) You've been asked to be present to face alleged corruption charges. What do you do?
A - You never did anything wrong, so you go there, prove it to them and leave them with egg on their faces!
B - You did a few things you regret during your long tenure as the President. Admit to your mistakes, because that's what the strongest amongst men do, aren't they?
C - Throw a tantrum about how the Riyaasee Commission does not have the right to "enter homes and arrest whomever they want", and of how you almost choked to death after falling victim to tear gas. Be careful not to mention anything about search warrants which enable the police to search homes.
5) Your successor's methods of enlightening the public about the plight of global warming and other environmental catastrophes appear to be much more successful than the ones you applied.
A - Bravo, good on him! Applaud his works and offer your support.
B - Ask your supporters to do everything possible to protect this country from possible environmental catastrophes.
C - Wait a minute! You are the Godfather of the Environment. You are the one who deserves all the medals! And what on earth is he doing underwater? Wasting time, damn it!
So there you go! If your answers are all C's, you got 5/5! Congratulations, Maumoon Abdul Qayyoom! Now I suggest you get away from our faces.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
What really is freedom of speech?
It's the right of every human being, I'm sure there aren't any disagreements there. It is the right of a person to stand up and speak against an iron-fisted ruler, to spread knowledge to the uneducated and to generally express your own opinion on various matters. But of course, there are always a few idiots who're going to abuse this right.
There's the saying "Freedom of speech does not mean you can yell "Fire!" in a crowded room." Although there are people who're always going to think the opposite. Just look at the recent uproar at UK when the fascist Dutch MP, Geert Wilders was barred from entering the country.
For those of you who don't know, Geert Wilders is a fascist, right-wing, anti-Islam politician (which basically means Idiot in a Nutshell), who spends all his energy, as with all attention-seeking, power hungry politicians, attempting to boost his popularity and get lots of votes. He was banned from entering the United Kingdom earlier this year and while this decision was supported by many, a few were left disgruntled and complaining about the lack of freedom of speech in Britain.
Geert Wilders, snorting ink
Allowing someone like Wilders to share his retarded views is like letting someone with no knowledge on physics to teach the quantum phenomena. He made a short film called Fitna, which was highly critical of Islam and was supposed to show everyone what bloodthirsty creatures we Muslims really are. I have to say that I found it to be something of an anticlimax; if I never knew who was behind its production, I would've thought it was a 12-year old. I'm not going to go into details, you can read an excellent response to the film here:
http://english.islamway.com/bindex.php?section=article&id=346
But anyway, after witnessing all the hysteria in Britain, people running around, flapping their arms in a demented manner, eyes rolling in their sockets, foam dripping out from their mouths and shrieking "Freedom of Speech, whatever happened to it?", I don't quite get the meaning of the term now. In my religion, we only do things which benefit people and stay well clear from things which induce harm. When we speak, we are told to speak only the truth. We are asked to spread knowledge so that the society can benefit from it. I just cannot see the point in letting a fascist bigot expressing his opinions. Opinions which are only meant to harm and isolate a group of people, to create instability and uncertainty throughout a country just so that his political party would get a few votes in his own country. That's how all racists and fascists obtain votes; by spooking you out with terrifying stories about The Others, or in today's world, Muslims. During the 1930's it was the Jews. Facists always attack you when you're most vulnerable, which only proves what cowards they really are. That's why the popularity of facist political parties have grown in Europe over the past year or so, which of course coincided with the global financial crisis. Apparently it's our fault that people are losing their jobs and are being forced to beg for a living.
I miss the days when common sense prevailed over everything else...
There's the saying "Freedom of speech does not mean you can yell "Fire!" in a crowded room." Although there are people who're always going to think the opposite. Just look at the recent uproar at UK when the fascist Dutch MP, Geert Wilders was barred from entering the country.
For those of you who don't know, Geert Wilders is a fascist, right-wing, anti-Islam politician (which basically means Idiot in a Nutshell), who spends all his energy, as with all attention-seeking, power hungry politicians, attempting to boost his popularity and get lots of votes. He was banned from entering the United Kingdom earlier this year and while this decision was supported by many, a few were left disgruntled and complaining about the lack of freedom of speech in Britain.
Geert Wilders, snorting inkAllowing someone like Wilders to share his retarded views is like letting someone with no knowledge on physics to teach the quantum phenomena. He made a short film called Fitna, which was highly critical of Islam and was supposed to show everyone what bloodthirsty creatures we Muslims really are. I have to say that I found it to be something of an anticlimax; if I never knew who was behind its production, I would've thought it was a 12-year old. I'm not going to go into details, you can read an excellent response to the film here:
http://english.islamway.com/bindex.php?section=article&id=346
But anyway, after witnessing all the hysteria in Britain, people running around, flapping their arms in a demented manner, eyes rolling in their sockets, foam dripping out from their mouths and shrieking "Freedom of Speech, whatever happened to it?", I don't quite get the meaning of the term now. In my religion, we only do things which benefit people and stay well clear from things which induce harm. When we speak, we are told to speak only the truth. We are asked to spread knowledge so that the society can benefit from it. I just cannot see the point in letting a fascist bigot expressing his opinions. Opinions which are only meant to harm and isolate a group of people, to create instability and uncertainty throughout a country just so that his political party would get a few votes in his own country. That's how all racists and fascists obtain votes; by spooking you out with terrifying stories about The Others, or in today's world, Muslims. During the 1930's it was the Jews. Facists always attack you when you're most vulnerable, which only proves what cowards they really are. That's why the popularity of facist political parties have grown in Europe over the past year or so, which of course coincided with the global financial crisis. Apparently it's our fault that people are losing their jobs and are being forced to beg for a living.
I miss the days when common sense prevailed over everything else...
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Greetings, an apology & and RMs
Without further ado, I'd like to wish all my Muslim brothers and sisters a very happy and blessed Ramadan! Let's make the best use of our time while we still have it, and may Allah grant us the strength to do so.
I know how long it has been since my last post, and believe me, I'm not proud of it. If this blog were my wife, she would've filed for divorce and left me by now and I'd probably be trying to piece together my life again. Luckily though, this is just a blog and I can toy with it however way I wish. In my defence, I've been extremely busy, doing lots of traveling around the country and abroad. So I managed to interact with some very interesting characters which is good news since it has given me a lot to write on this blog. But let's leave it to another day and make an in-depth study on those quirky characters we see during the blessed month of Ramadan every year; the Ramadan Muslims.
I think it's safe to assume that the term probably started out as an inside joke within a circle of Islamic scholars. Here's my definition of the term:
Ramadan Muslim - A peculiar species of Muslim which comes out of its shell of excessive materialism during the first week of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Now, there are many ways in which you can identify RMs. The most widely used method is by observing the way people behave inside mosques. RMs just aren't used to spending time at the mosque. During the other months, while attending Friday prayers, they
1. turn up late so that they do not have to listen to the whole khutbah
2. sleep throughout the khutbah or
3. stay outside the mosque so that they cannot hear the khutbah. Or all three at once, if possible.
Of course, during the first Friday of Ramadan, RMs take special care to attend the prayers on time. They even try to stay awake through the whole sermon without thinking about food. They try. Of course, succeeding is a totally different issue.
RMs have their religious batteries charged to the brim during the first week, and this, unfortunately, lasts only 7 days. They'll attend prayers on time (some even manage to wake up for Fajr, to their enormous surprise), but their lack of mosque etiquette will be there for all to see.
It is evident from the Hadeeth of our beloved Prophet (s.a.w) that we should attempt to fill the rows while preparing for the prayers in an orderly manner. Fill the rows starting from the front, begin from the middle directly behind the Imaam and gradually fill the sides. This undoubtedly will make it easier for everyone. Unfortunately, RMs have other ideas, all of which center around, "I have to get outta here as soon as possible." They stay at the back rows, and believe me, there are a lot of RMs when you think about it! This usually gives rise to a horrendous bottleneck at the mosque entrance and several people will have to make do by praying outside amongst the slippers and shoes, some of which do not smell very nice.
Obviously, due to their apparent tight schedules, RMs don't bother performing the sunnah prayers. They leave as soon as the fard prayer ends, causing yet another bottleneck around the entrance. Personally I find it rather odd that they prefer getting jostled around in the middle of a crowd for ten minutes rather than taking that time to perform the sunnah prayers.
With Ramadan comes the Tharaaweeh prayers. Most RMs perform these prayers and are proud to do so. Until the end of the first week, that is. Afterward, they'll begin to skip this particular prayer by leaving after 'Isha, sheepish expressions plastered on their faces. The speed at which they leave the mosque is quite astonishing; they will shame any Olympic athletes who're lucky enough to witness it.
A Ramadan Muslim, leaving the mosque after 'Isha
After the first week, everything will go normal for RMs. They won't touch the Quran, set foot inside a mosque and will sleep till noon. An exception will be the eve of 27th, which for some reason they are convinced is THE night; Laylath-al-Qadr. I wonder who started this rumour, because it really isn't helping the RMs to carry out their religious duties properly.
And so the process repeats itself, once a week every year.
So, ask yourself this; are you a Ramadan Muslim? In any case, here are a few articles that I hope you will find to be useful.
http://www.khutbah.com/en/ramadan_hajj/warriors.php
http://www.khutbah.com/en/ramadan_hajj/sand.php
http://www.beautifulislam.com/fasting
I know how long it has been since my last post, and believe me, I'm not proud of it. If this blog were my wife, she would've filed for divorce and left me by now and I'd probably be trying to piece together my life again. Luckily though, this is just a blog and I can toy with it however way I wish. In my defence, I've been extremely busy, doing lots of traveling around the country and abroad. So I managed to interact with some very interesting characters which is good news since it has given me a lot to write on this blog. But let's leave it to another day and make an in-depth study on those quirky characters we see during the blessed month of Ramadan every year; the Ramadan Muslims.
I think it's safe to assume that the term probably started out as an inside joke within a circle of Islamic scholars. Here's my definition of the term:
Ramadan Muslim - A peculiar species of Muslim which comes out of its shell of excessive materialism during the first week of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Now, there are many ways in which you can identify RMs. The most widely used method is by observing the way people behave inside mosques. RMs just aren't used to spending time at the mosque. During the other months, while attending Friday prayers, they
1. turn up late so that they do not have to listen to the whole khutbah
2. sleep throughout the khutbah or
3. stay outside the mosque so that they cannot hear the khutbah. Or all three at once, if possible.
Of course, during the first Friday of Ramadan, RMs take special care to attend the prayers on time. They even try to stay awake through the whole sermon without thinking about food. They try. Of course, succeeding is a totally different issue.
RMs have their religious batteries charged to the brim during the first week, and this, unfortunately, lasts only 7 days. They'll attend prayers on time (some even manage to wake up for Fajr, to their enormous surprise), but their lack of mosque etiquette will be there for all to see.
It is evident from the Hadeeth of our beloved Prophet (s.a.w) that we should attempt to fill the rows while preparing for the prayers in an orderly manner. Fill the rows starting from the front, begin from the middle directly behind the Imaam and gradually fill the sides. This undoubtedly will make it easier for everyone. Unfortunately, RMs have other ideas, all of which center around, "I have to get outta here as soon as possible." They stay at the back rows, and believe me, there are a lot of RMs when you think about it! This usually gives rise to a horrendous bottleneck at the mosque entrance and several people will have to make do by praying outside amongst the slippers and shoes, some of which do not smell very nice.
Obviously, due to their apparent tight schedules, RMs don't bother performing the sunnah prayers. They leave as soon as the fard prayer ends, causing yet another bottleneck around the entrance. Personally I find it rather odd that they prefer getting jostled around in the middle of a crowd for ten minutes rather than taking that time to perform the sunnah prayers.
With Ramadan comes the Tharaaweeh prayers. Most RMs perform these prayers and are proud to do so. Until the end of the first week, that is. Afterward, they'll begin to skip this particular prayer by leaving after 'Isha, sheepish expressions plastered on their faces. The speed at which they leave the mosque is quite astonishing; they will shame any Olympic athletes who're lucky enough to witness it.
A Ramadan Muslim, leaving the mosque after 'IshaAfter the first week, everything will go normal for RMs. They won't touch the Quran, set foot inside a mosque and will sleep till noon. An exception will be the eve of 27th, which for some reason they are convinced is THE night; Laylath-al-Qadr. I wonder who started this rumour, because it really isn't helping the RMs to carry out their religious duties properly.
And so the process repeats itself, once a week every year.
So, ask yourself this; are you a Ramadan Muslim? In any case, here are a few articles that I hope you will find to be useful.
http://www.khutbah.com/en/ramadan_hajj/warriors.php
http://www.khutbah.com/en/ramadan_hajj/sand.php
http://www.beautifulislam.com/fasting
Monday, March 2, 2009
Sex education in Maldives - it's a total failure!
Yes, let's talk about sex! Me, being a tad melodramatic, will start by telling you all a little story.
The first time I was made to sit down and listen to The Talk was a few weeks after I began grade 6. I was eleven years old at the time. My classmates and I were taken to the school hall where our Assistant Principal was waiting for us, a book on her lap and her face bearing a very serious expression. We were immediately wondering what we had done to displease her.
So we tentatively seated facing her while she patiently waited till we settled down. Then she opened the book and held it up. We squinted to see what it was. It was an illustrated diagram of the male genitals. Several people sniggered, but the noise was instantly quailed when she glared at us.
"Do you know what this is?" She asked us. Of course we do, I thought. It's the male genitals. You can close the book now. She didn't, and continued with this rather unusual session.
"These are called the private parts. I'm going to tell you a few things you need to know about your private parts..." and she told us how important it was to not let our "private parts" be seen by anyone else, unless during unavoidable circumstances like sustaining an illness (I thought getting hit by the ball while out playing football and sustaining testicular torsion would have been a better example; the mind conjures horrible images sometimes).
But anyway, during the days that followed there were plenty of private part jokes floating around. Most of us didn't really take the session too seriously. We were made to sit through plenty of similar sessions and I noticed that the attitude of my classmates were pretty much the same.
This type of attitude is not limited to just immature adolescents. You make someone talk about sex on television and you'll hear people all over the country either freaking out or cracking dirty jokes. I suppose this is understandable to an extent, since quite a lot of negative Western aspects have seeped into our once disciplined culture. But if you take one brief look into our past, you'll discover that we have a rather cringeworthy history whenever sex is involved.
Remember the story of how we converted to Islam? About the Rannamaari? Weren't you surprised (and somewhat amused) to discover that the frightful monster that for some reason always feasted on young, virgin girls was merely the king carrying out his part time duty as a rapist? How about the way our earliest type of poetry, the Raivaru, lost its credibility when it was used as a tool to hurl out X-rated lyrics towards our pious women? Or how the discipline of our nation was on the verge of a serious meltdown when Mohamed Amin Didi came to power? Yes, homosexuality was common practice back then, bet your Dhivehi teacher never told you that, eh? Our first president managed to stamp it out of course, let's give credit to him for that. But what was his reward for all the positive changes he brought to this country? Getting beaten up, tortured and banished until he passed away. He forgave all Maldivian citizens except for the two blokes who injured his genitals. And recently we discovered this guy. One would fear that this is not an isolated case. Not only do we have such perverted sickos lumbering all over the country, but cases of premarital / extramarital sex and sexual assaults are on the rise. We've undone all the good work Amin Didi did for us.
Now, the solution. Predictably, I'm going to say it is our religion, Islam (I'll just ignore the groans coming from the Kemal Ataturk Brigade). In Islam, sex is not considered to be dirty or a source of shame. Rather, it is one of the natural inclinations given to us by Allah that need to be fulfilled every now and then, similar to the same sort of unavoidable desires such as eating, drinking, sleep etc. However, like everything else sexual desire can only be fulfilled by following a certain set of rules which can be clearly learnt from the Quran and our beloved Prophet's (peace be upon him) Hadith.
Don't get me wrong now, it's not that I'm against the awareness sessions being conducted in schools and youth centres. I just think the information are not being provided in the correct manner. Having attended plenty of such sessions, I can say that I've always felt there was an important element missing from them; the religious perspective. Brilliant though our psychologists and behavourial experts are, they simply don't have sufficient knowledge when it comes to religious matters. For an example, they can tell us about all the different types of contraceptive methods and when the session ends, some of us would be under the impression that as long as we use contraception, everything will be alright. For an instance, I was questioned in a survey conducted by WHO recently and the interviewer asked me all sorts of awkward questions (my cousin, who was with me at the time, was kicked out of the room to give me privacy). He began listing all sorts of contraceptive methods, most of which sounded rather repulsive, and he finally quzzed me about the diaphragm.
"Diaphragm?" I asked incredulously. "How on earth does that work?" I was thinking about the diaphragm pumps used in chemistry labs while transferring solutions into pipettes.
The interviewer did not appear to share my amusement.
"So which methods will you use?" He asked.
"Let's see, er...which methods..that's a tough one. I don't like many of the methods you've mentioned."
"Just name one or two then."
"I'll definitely not use a diaphragm."
These people never mention things like the importance of abstinence before marriage, the dangers of homosexuality and incest etc.
As a result today, we have an underground gay community and ignorant dunderheads who're always quick to say, "Oh, I don't have a problem with a person's sexuality." Oh yeah? Look what happened to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. And before you think of pelting me with hollow insults, take a look at the statistics provided by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency that is always on the frontline when it comes to infectious and dangerous diseases in the United States:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#exposure
Compare the number of cases of AIDS transferred by male-to-male sexual contact to that of high-risk (note the word high-risk) heterosexual contact. Interesting, isn't it? Of course, such statistics are rarely spoken aloud. It's called political correctness, see, which roughly means manipulating the truth in such a way that people are made to hear things the way they want to hear them.
It always amuses me how the many so-called developed countries of the world actually consider pornography and incest to be perfectly acceptable. Look at this:
"In Israel, incest between adults (of the age of 18 years and above) is not a crime"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_regarding_incest
Ha! Ridiculous! Not only are such atrocities legal in some countries, but pornography is a billion dollar industry, and cases of pornography-related sexual assaults are not rare. In fact, plenty of serial killers have admitted that the motivation of their crimes were as a result of watching violent pornography.
We all know that incest, pornography, sodomy and fornication are crimes in Islam. So how can we curb all the immorality that are rapidly spreading throughout our society? Well for one thing, we shouldn't just shun them into a dark corner and pretend they don't exist, which was a habit of a certain former President of ours. You might remember him; huge ego, has an irrational fear of fireworks...yes him. No, we should tackle the problems head-on using the powerful tool we call Islam.
Oh, and I've managed to find a couple of excellent articles:
Islamic perspective on homosexuality
Homosexuality in the light of Islam
The first time I was made to sit down and listen to The Talk was a few weeks after I began grade 6. I was eleven years old at the time. My classmates and I were taken to the school hall where our Assistant Principal was waiting for us, a book on her lap and her face bearing a very serious expression. We were immediately wondering what we had done to displease her.
So we tentatively seated facing her while she patiently waited till we settled down. Then she opened the book and held it up. We squinted to see what it was. It was an illustrated diagram of the male genitals. Several people sniggered, but the noise was instantly quailed when she glared at us.
"Do you know what this is?" She asked us. Of course we do, I thought. It's the male genitals. You can close the book now. She didn't, and continued with this rather unusual session.
"These are called the private parts. I'm going to tell you a few things you need to know about your private parts..." and she told us how important it was to not let our "private parts" be seen by anyone else, unless during unavoidable circumstances like sustaining an illness (I thought getting hit by the ball while out playing football and sustaining testicular torsion would have been a better example; the mind conjures horrible images sometimes).
But anyway, during the days that followed there were plenty of private part jokes floating around. Most of us didn't really take the session too seriously. We were made to sit through plenty of similar sessions and I noticed that the attitude of my classmates were pretty much the same.
This type of attitude is not limited to just immature adolescents. You make someone talk about sex on television and you'll hear people all over the country either freaking out or cracking dirty jokes. I suppose this is understandable to an extent, since quite a lot of negative Western aspects have seeped into our once disciplined culture. But if you take one brief look into our past, you'll discover that we have a rather cringeworthy history whenever sex is involved.
Remember the story of how we converted to Islam? About the Rannamaari? Weren't you surprised (and somewhat amused) to discover that the frightful monster that for some reason always feasted on young, virgin girls was merely the king carrying out his part time duty as a rapist? How about the way our earliest type of poetry, the Raivaru, lost its credibility when it was used as a tool to hurl out X-rated lyrics towards our pious women? Or how the discipline of our nation was on the verge of a serious meltdown when Mohamed Amin Didi came to power? Yes, homosexuality was common practice back then, bet your Dhivehi teacher never told you that, eh? Our first president managed to stamp it out of course, let's give credit to him for that. But what was his reward for all the positive changes he brought to this country? Getting beaten up, tortured and banished until he passed away. He forgave all Maldivian citizens except for the two blokes who injured his genitals. And recently we discovered this guy. One would fear that this is not an isolated case. Not only do we have such perverted sickos lumbering all over the country, but cases of premarital / extramarital sex and sexual assaults are on the rise. We've undone all the good work Amin Didi did for us.
Now, the solution. Predictably, I'm going to say it is our religion, Islam (I'll just ignore the groans coming from the Kemal Ataturk Brigade). In Islam, sex is not considered to be dirty or a source of shame. Rather, it is one of the natural inclinations given to us by Allah that need to be fulfilled every now and then, similar to the same sort of unavoidable desires such as eating, drinking, sleep etc. However, like everything else sexual desire can only be fulfilled by following a certain set of rules which can be clearly learnt from the Quran and our beloved Prophet's (peace be upon him) Hadith.
Don't get me wrong now, it's not that I'm against the awareness sessions being conducted in schools and youth centres. I just think the information are not being provided in the correct manner. Having attended plenty of such sessions, I can say that I've always felt there was an important element missing from them; the religious perspective. Brilliant though our psychologists and behavourial experts are, they simply don't have sufficient knowledge when it comes to religious matters. For an example, they can tell us about all the different types of contraceptive methods and when the session ends, some of us would be under the impression that as long as we use contraception, everything will be alright. For an instance, I was questioned in a survey conducted by WHO recently and the interviewer asked me all sorts of awkward questions (my cousin, who was with me at the time, was kicked out of the room to give me privacy). He began listing all sorts of contraceptive methods, most of which sounded rather repulsive, and he finally quzzed me about the diaphragm.
"Diaphragm?" I asked incredulously. "How on earth does that work?" I was thinking about the diaphragm pumps used in chemistry labs while transferring solutions into pipettes.
The interviewer did not appear to share my amusement.
"So which methods will you use?" He asked.
"Let's see, er...which methods..that's a tough one. I don't like many of the methods you've mentioned."
"Just name one or two then."
"I'll definitely not use a diaphragm."
These people never mention things like the importance of abstinence before marriage, the dangers of homosexuality and incest etc.
As a result today, we have an underground gay community and ignorant dunderheads who're always quick to say, "Oh, I don't have a problem with a person's sexuality." Oh yeah? Look what happened to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. And before you think of pelting me with hollow insults, take a look at the statistics provided by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency that is always on the frontline when it comes to infectious and dangerous diseases in the United States:
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm#exposure
Compare the number of cases of AIDS transferred by male-to-male sexual contact to that of high-risk (note the word high-risk) heterosexual contact. Interesting, isn't it? Of course, such statistics are rarely spoken aloud. It's called political correctness, see, which roughly means manipulating the truth in such a way that people are made to hear things the way they want to hear them.
It always amuses me how the many so-called developed countries of the world actually consider pornography and incest to be perfectly acceptable. Look at this:
"In Israel, incest between adults (of the age of 18 years and above) is not a crime"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_regarding_incest
Ha! Ridiculous! Not only are such atrocities legal in some countries, but pornography is a billion dollar industry, and cases of pornography-related sexual assaults are not rare. In fact, plenty of serial killers have admitted that the motivation of their crimes were as a result of watching violent pornography.
We all know that incest, pornography, sodomy and fornication are crimes in Islam. So how can we curb all the immorality that are rapidly spreading throughout our society? Well for one thing, we shouldn't just shun them into a dark corner and pretend they don't exist, which was a habit of a certain former President of ours. You might remember him; huge ego, has an irrational fear of fireworks...yes him. No, we should tackle the problems head-on using the powerful tool we call Islam.
Oh, and I've managed to find a couple of excellent articles:
Islamic perspective on homosexuality
Homosexuality in the light of Islam
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Maldivians turning into Rednecks
Don't we all feel annoyed by the stereotypes attached to us? Say you, the Maldivian, were in a foreign country, England for an example, and it's the middle of winter (a time of the year when people over there are unusually edgy). You walk into a small shop owned by a middle aged white man. He gives you one long, searching look of deepest loathing and utter,
"I don't bargain here."
"What? I had never thought of bargaining."
"Oh really? And am I supposed to believe that?"
"Well, I can't see any reason why you shouldn't."
"Oh I can tell you plenty of reasons. You see, don't think that, just because you worship three million false gods you can do whatever you like with us Englishmen."
"Ah! You think I'm from India then?"
"You ain't?"
"No, I'm from the Maldives."
As usual with most foreigners who discover that you're Maldivian, the shopkeeper will then undergo a drastic and frankly alarming change in his mood. He'll become so warm that you're sure the snow outside will melt at any moment.
"I am so sorry. You must be terrified! Please do forgive me, but those brown tossers are nothing but trouble, I'm sure you understand. But ah, Maldives! It's a beautiful country! You're so lucky to actually belong there!"
"Er...thank you?"
"Yes, yes, but anyway, what was it that you wanted to purchase? That watch? No, c'mere, I can show you even better ones. Here, a Rolex. No, no need to bother. I can make it cheap, you know. 20% discount, what do you say?"
"No sir, it's alright. I'm not really fussed...er I'll be happy with a cheap one. You know, I just need something to make myself keep track of the time."
"Oh, so modest. But tell me; how many times have you been hit on the head by a coconut?"
"A co- what? A coconut? Never."
"Never? But there probably ain't a scrap of land that ain't occupied by coconut trees!"
"Coconut palms, sir. But I assure you, I've never fallen victim to a coconut. And I've lived there most of my life."
"Ah yes. You must be one of the few lucky ones then, boy! I shudder to imagine the number of coconut-related injuries your people sustain every year."
"Well, to be honest such injuries are pretty rare."
"Rare! Hohoho! I don't know who you're kidding boy. Are you pulling my leg?"
"No, no, I'm being serious. Coconuts aren't nearly as dangerous as you appear to think!"
"Hahahaha! Oh, you've made my day, boy! You Maldivians have a good sense of humour too! I'll tell me wife of that. Incidentally, do you know anyone who could help me wife and I to go over there for cheap? It's our 25th anniversary this summer and what better way than to spend it in the tropical sun, eh boy?"
Yes, stereotypes and generalisation; two extremely annoying traits you're likely to encounter in foreign lands. Although some of them can be pretty amusing like the example mentioned above, others can be downright nasty. The nasty stuff can be attributed to racism or xenophobia. Or even fascism, but they all promote the same thing; hatred.
Which reminds me of Paulo Di Canio, the former Italian footballer who infamously made the Nazi salute after scoring a goal. When accused of being a racist, he replied, "I'm not a racist. I'm a fascist." What an idiot...
An even bigger douchebag than you previously thought
And it's a growing trend here in Maldives. Some of us appear to have the illusion that we Maldivians are superior in front of our fellow South Asians, and I'm sure that the rest of us are thoroughly mystified. If the historical facts we've come up with by collecting various evidence are accurate, then we're descendants of a mixture of tribes; Dravidians, Arabs, Black Africans and North Indian Aryans. But does any of this matter? Well, no, unless you're a completely ignorant fool.
And unfortunately, some of us appear to have happily embraced the Completely Ignorant Fool tag. I've seen plenty of blogs owned by Maldivians which shamelessly conjures articles week after week containing shocking derogatory language against "Bangalhis". Recently, several groups have popped up on Facebook calling for the expulsion of "Bangalhis" from Maldives, and their grotesque members have even uploaded photos of immigrant workers being subjected to all sorts of discriminatory acts, which the members of the groups appear to find amusing. Of course, if you confront any of these bigots then they'll always give you the same, Redneck answer:
"I don't like 'em immigrants. They come 'ere 'n steal our jobs."
Fine, then. Why don't you cycle to the garbage dump every evening with bulging bags of rubbish that makes you smell for weeks on end, or get involved in the construction of buildings from eight in the morning till sunset and risk getting baked in the sun, or perhaps maintain the sewers which, once again, will make you smell bad for weeks on end. What? No? It's not your job? Well then, what's with the double standards?
As we're all aware of, the racist attacks on foreigners, particularly Bangladeshi immigrant workers have been getting increasingly gruesome. I won't even bother to discuss them. And the abuse is not just limited to bodily harm, but you get the feeling that the verbal abuse is even worse.
What we Maldivians don't like to admit is the fact that we're getting increasingly unpopular amongst the South Asian countries. A friend of my mother's once told us how her family were residing in an area in Sri Lanka far away from where Maldivians usually stay.
"They call us drug dealers," she said. And you wonder why, looking at the way young Maldivians who go over there to "pursue their education" behave themselves.
All this hatred that has crept into our society wouldn't exist if people really acted like true believers. I recently read an interview of a man, who used to be a hardcore member of the KKK (that is a racist organization in the USA) who converted to Islam. In it, he said something that was really interesting:
"The other element [of my change] was [that] when you hate somebody so passionately and you just live and just consume the hatred everyday, it starts to deteriorate. It's like a cancer because it destroys your personality, it distorts your soul, and it destroys [those] close to you because it wears off on other people. I was inflicting more harm on myself than the people I hated. I was basically destroying my family and anyone else who had contact with me."
You can read the full interview here:
http://www.beautifulislam.com/converts/kkk_to_islam.htm
In a country where the majority of its citizens claim to followers of Islam, it is embarrassing to witness such acts of cowardice. If only these cowards bothered to learn more about the way of life, I'm absolutely certain that ones race will not even be considered an issue. That is because racism has no place in Islam.
Which brings us to some wise words said by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
A man once visited the Prophets mosque in Madina. There he saw a group of people sitting and discussing their faith together. Among them were Salman (who came from Persia), Suhayb who grew up in the Eastern Roman empire and was regarded as a Greek, and Bilal who was an African. The man then said:
"If the (Madinan) tribes of Aws and Khazraj support Muhammad, (it is understood because they are Arabs like him) they are his people. But what are these (foreign) people doing here?" (Implying an obvious dislike for foreigners) The Prophet became very angry when this was reported to him. He went to the mosque and summoned people to prayer. He then addressed them saying:
"O people, know that the Lord and Sustainer is One. Your ancestor is one; your faith is one. The Arabism of anyone of you is not (by virtue of the nobility of) your mother or father. It is no more than a tongue (language) The Prophet further said: Let people stop boasting about their ancestors. One is only a pious believer or a miserable sinner. All men are sons of Adam, and Adam came from dust." [(Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi)]
"Humanity is the family of Allah, the best human is one who is kind to His (Allahs) family. (Mishkat) Extending a helping hand to a foreigner is extending your hand to your own family member."
"I don't bargain here."
"What? I had never thought of bargaining."
"Oh really? And am I supposed to believe that?"
"Well, I can't see any reason why you shouldn't."
"Oh I can tell you plenty of reasons. You see, don't think that, just because you worship three million false gods you can do whatever you like with us Englishmen."
"Ah! You think I'm from India then?"
"You ain't?"
"No, I'm from the Maldives."
As usual with most foreigners who discover that you're Maldivian, the shopkeeper will then undergo a drastic and frankly alarming change in his mood. He'll become so warm that you're sure the snow outside will melt at any moment.
"I am so sorry. You must be terrified! Please do forgive me, but those brown tossers are nothing but trouble, I'm sure you understand. But ah, Maldives! It's a beautiful country! You're so lucky to actually belong there!"
"Er...thank you?"
"Yes, yes, but anyway, what was it that you wanted to purchase? That watch? No, c'mere, I can show you even better ones. Here, a Rolex. No, no need to bother. I can make it cheap, you know. 20% discount, what do you say?"
"No sir, it's alright. I'm not really fussed...er I'll be happy with a cheap one. You know, I just need something to make myself keep track of the time."
"Oh, so modest. But tell me; how many times have you been hit on the head by a coconut?"
"A co- what? A coconut? Never."
"Never? But there probably ain't a scrap of land that ain't occupied by coconut trees!"
"Coconut palms, sir. But I assure you, I've never fallen victim to a coconut. And I've lived there most of my life."
"Ah yes. You must be one of the few lucky ones then, boy! I shudder to imagine the number of coconut-related injuries your people sustain every year."
"Well, to be honest such injuries are pretty rare."
"Rare! Hohoho! I don't know who you're kidding boy. Are you pulling my leg?"
"No, no, I'm being serious. Coconuts aren't nearly as dangerous as you appear to think!"
"Hahahaha! Oh, you've made my day, boy! You Maldivians have a good sense of humour too! I'll tell me wife of that. Incidentally, do you know anyone who could help me wife and I to go over there for cheap? It's our 25th anniversary this summer and what better way than to spend it in the tropical sun, eh boy?"
Yes, stereotypes and generalisation; two extremely annoying traits you're likely to encounter in foreign lands. Although some of them can be pretty amusing like the example mentioned above, others can be downright nasty. The nasty stuff can be attributed to racism or xenophobia. Or even fascism, but they all promote the same thing; hatred.
Which reminds me of Paulo Di Canio, the former Italian footballer who infamously made the Nazi salute after scoring a goal. When accused of being a racist, he replied, "I'm not a racist. I'm a fascist." What an idiot...
An even bigger douchebag than you previously thoughtAnd it's a growing trend here in Maldives. Some of us appear to have the illusion that we Maldivians are superior in front of our fellow South Asians, and I'm sure that the rest of us are thoroughly mystified. If the historical facts we've come up with by collecting various evidence are accurate, then we're descendants of a mixture of tribes; Dravidians, Arabs, Black Africans and North Indian Aryans. But does any of this matter? Well, no, unless you're a completely ignorant fool.
And unfortunately, some of us appear to have happily embraced the Completely Ignorant Fool tag. I've seen plenty of blogs owned by Maldivians which shamelessly conjures articles week after week containing shocking derogatory language against "Bangalhis". Recently, several groups have popped up on Facebook calling for the expulsion of "Bangalhis" from Maldives, and their grotesque members have even uploaded photos of immigrant workers being subjected to all sorts of discriminatory acts, which the members of the groups appear to find amusing. Of course, if you confront any of these bigots then they'll always give you the same, Redneck answer:
"I don't like 'em immigrants. They come 'ere 'n steal our jobs."
Fine, then. Why don't you cycle to the garbage dump every evening with bulging bags of rubbish that makes you smell for weeks on end, or get involved in the construction of buildings from eight in the morning till sunset and risk getting baked in the sun, or perhaps maintain the sewers which, once again, will make you smell bad for weeks on end. What? No? It's not your job? Well then, what's with the double standards?
As we're all aware of, the racist attacks on foreigners, particularly Bangladeshi immigrant workers have been getting increasingly gruesome. I won't even bother to discuss them. And the abuse is not just limited to bodily harm, but you get the feeling that the verbal abuse is even worse.
What we Maldivians don't like to admit is the fact that we're getting increasingly unpopular amongst the South Asian countries. A friend of my mother's once told us how her family were residing in an area in Sri Lanka far away from where Maldivians usually stay.
"They call us drug dealers," she said. And you wonder why, looking at the way young Maldivians who go over there to "pursue their education" behave themselves.
All this hatred that has crept into our society wouldn't exist if people really acted like true believers. I recently read an interview of a man, who used to be a hardcore member of the KKK (that is a racist organization in the USA) who converted to Islam. In it, he said something that was really interesting:
"The other element [of my change] was [that] when you hate somebody so passionately and you just live and just consume the hatred everyday, it starts to deteriorate. It's like a cancer because it destroys your personality, it distorts your soul, and it destroys [those] close to you because it wears off on other people. I was inflicting more harm on myself than the people I hated. I was basically destroying my family and anyone else who had contact with me."
You can read the full interview here:
http://www.beautifulislam.com/converts/kkk_to_islam.htm
In a country where the majority of its citizens claim to followers of Islam, it is embarrassing to witness such acts of cowardice. If only these cowards bothered to learn more about the way of life, I'm absolutely certain that ones race will not even be considered an issue. That is because racism has no place in Islam.
Which brings us to some wise words said by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
A man once visited the Prophets mosque in Madina. There he saw a group of people sitting and discussing their faith together. Among them were Salman (who came from Persia), Suhayb who grew up in the Eastern Roman empire and was regarded as a Greek, and Bilal who was an African. The man then said:
"If the (Madinan) tribes of Aws and Khazraj support Muhammad, (it is understood because they are Arabs like him) they are his people. But what are these (foreign) people doing here?" (Implying an obvious dislike for foreigners) The Prophet became very angry when this was reported to him. He went to the mosque and summoned people to prayer. He then addressed them saying:
"O people, know that the Lord and Sustainer is One. Your ancestor is one; your faith is one. The Arabism of anyone of you is not (by virtue of the nobility of) your mother or father. It is no more than a tongue (language) The Prophet further said: Let people stop boasting about their ancestors. One is only a pious believer or a miserable sinner. All men are sons of Adam, and Adam came from dust." [(Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi)]
"Humanity is the family of Allah, the best human is one who is kind to His (Allahs) family. (Mishkat) Extending a helping hand to a foreigner is extending your hand to your own family member."
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Books you wouldn't expect to read anytime soon
I just finished reading Airman, yet another classic by Eoin Colfer, and I'm not being dramatic by saying that that was probably the best piece of fiction I've ever read. So understandably, I'm feeling somewhat book-ish. So without further ado:
How to Give Awe Inspiring Speeches in Public by Mohamed Nasheed "Anni"
Frugal Living by Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom
An In-Depth Look Into the Quantum Phenomena by Ali Seezan
A Man For All Islands: Umar Naseer, a biography by Royston Ellis
Your Guide To Beating Narcissism by Cristiano Ronaldo
Laugh Out Loud Jokes by Ayatollah Khomeini
How to Sustain An Active Lifestyle During Your Latter Years by Ariel Sharon
A Guide to English Vocabulary by George W Bush
Grab Votes; 101 Ways to Become Popular Amongst the Public by Ibrahim Ismail
Silence is Golden: The Virtues of Keeping Your Trap Shut by Mohamed Nasheed (former Information Minister)
The Many Different Contraceptive Methods by the Pope
Good Career Moves I've Made So Far and How You Can Learn From Them by Ali Ashfaq
An honorable mention:
This one is actually real believe it or not..
Feel free to add your suggestions. I'm looking forward to them.
How to Give Awe Inspiring Speeches in Public by Mohamed Nasheed "Anni"
Frugal Living by Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom
An In-Depth Look Into the Quantum Phenomena by Ali Seezan
A Man For All Islands: Umar Naseer, a biography by Royston Ellis
Your Guide To Beating Narcissism by Cristiano Ronaldo
Laugh Out Loud Jokes by Ayatollah Khomeini
How to Sustain An Active Lifestyle During Your Latter Years by Ariel Sharon
A Guide to English Vocabulary by George W Bush
Grab Votes; 101 Ways to Become Popular Amongst the Public by Ibrahim Ismail
Silence is Golden: The Virtues of Keeping Your Trap Shut by Mohamed Nasheed (former Information Minister)
The Many Different Contraceptive Methods by the Pope
Good Career Moves I've Made So Far and How You Can Learn From Them by Ali Ashfaq
An honorable mention:
This one is actually real believe it or not..Feel free to add your suggestions. I'm looking forward to them.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Gaza massacre
The current killing spree conducted by Israel is the latest chapter of Zionist occupation that have been stained and soaked by the blood of Palestinians. Even though the government of Israel have used the excuse "We're attacking to defeat Hamas", no sane, unbiased person will be fooled into believing that. They're using this latest genocide as a tool to gain support from the grotesque Israeli public for the upcoming elections. In order to discuss this post, I'll try my best to give you all an in-depth look to the root of all the evil; Zionism.
First, let's look at a brief history of Palestine. It is a place where many of the Prophets were born or died, including Ibrahim, Lut, Dawud, Sulayman, Musa and `Isa (peace be upon them). Also, we musn't forget that Baitul-Maqdis was the site of Prophet Muhammad's (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) Isra' and Mi'raj.
Palestine was brought under Islamic rule during the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. The new laws were welcomed not only by Muslims, but by the Christians and Jews as well. Prior to Islamic rule, the Palestinians had been living under the tyrannical Byzantines. In fact, after witnessing the humbleness of Umar (r.a) and the Muslims, Sophronius, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem gave him the keys to the city. There was also another famous incident where Umar was invited to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and when prayer time arrived he was given permission to pray inside the church by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Eutychius. However, Umar declined the offer and prayed outside the church instead, citing that if he prayed inside the church, he feared that future generations of Muslims may take it as an excuse to forcefully convert the church to a mosque. In addition to this, Jews were able to live in Jerusalem and practice their religion freely for the first time since they were banished 500 years prior to that. According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, 70 Jewish families took up residence in the city.
- 1099 A.C. Palestine was invaded by the European Crusaders and subsequently occupied for nearly a century. During the occupation massacres and great injustices were committed against the Muslim, Jewish and native Christian residents of the area. The only law applied in the holy land blessed by Allah was the law of force and persecution.
- 1187 A.C. Palestine was liberated by the Muslims under the leadership of Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi (Saladin the Magnificent) who brought back Islamic law to the area.
- 1917 the British government issued the Balfour Declaration which declared Palestine to be a homeland for Jews. At the time Jews made up approximately 8% of the population of Palestine and owned approximately 2.5% of the land.
- 1918 the British and their Arab nationalist allies defeated the Ottomans. The British dismembered the Ottoman Empire and occupied Palestine. The British immediately began a campaign of immigrating European Jews to Palestine.
- 1948 the Jews claimed the establishment of a state for themselves over the land of Palestine and called it Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were forced out of Palestine under the military pressure of Jewish terrorist groups such as the Irgun, Levi, and Haganot which were financed and armed by the British army.
- 1967 Israel attacked Egypt, Jordan and Syria and occupied more land including, for the first time, Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa. Since that time Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa has been the target of several attempts by the Jews to destroy or burn it, including several attempts to bring about its collapse through underground excavations. The Jews know that Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa is symbolic of the Islamic nature of the land and want to remove any trace of Islamic civilization from Palestine.
When we look at all these facts, one thing becomes crystal clear; it is only Islamic rule that will bring peace and prosperity to a country. For Islamic rule to be implemented, two factors must be considered;
1. Muslims should make up the majority of the population. The Zionists have been attempting to make people believe that creating two states, i.e. Palestine and Israel alongside each other, will help the citizens of both states to prosper. This will not work, and in any case, their main objective is to drive out the Muslims from the area.
2. The heads of the Palestinian state should consist of Muslims with sufficient knowledge of their religion, and enough thaqwa to act upon what they've learnt. Appointing pro-democrats will only contribute, yet again, to the downfall of the nation.
It must also be noted that anti-Zionism have been mentioned in the same breath as Antisemitism by Western media sources, so much so that many appear to believe that the two ideologies are the same thing. For an example, there was a meeting held by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and several anti-Zionist Rabbis to conduct discussions about the evils of Zionism. CNN covered this rather extensively it must be said, with the headline "DENYING THE HOLOCAUST", with Bush and his cronies appearing randomly to criticize the meeting, calling it antisemitic. In fact, one of the invitees of the meeting clearly mentioned just as the meeting began that it had nothing to do with the Holocaust, they weren't discussing anything about it. The only time that they mentioned the Holocaust was when they agreed upon the fact that Zionists were using in as an excuse to drive Palestinians out of their homeland. This brings us to a few words uttered by the Finnish Foreign Minister Errki Tuomioja back during 2001:
"I am shocked that Israel's policy is to humiliate, to hurt, and to impoverish the Palestinians. What could be the result of this except eternal hatred? Israel's actions are especially difficult to accept because the Jews, more than anyone else should know how horrible it is for a whole nation to be persecuted. It is very troubling that the policies of the Israelis against the Palestinians are similar to those which victimized them in the 1930s."
Predictably, he was much criticized after this. In this age of globalization, we're not allowed to look deep into the heinous acts of crime committed by the so-called saviors of the human race, i.e. USA, UK, and the rest of the G8. I was watched coverage of the Gaza massacre on several Western news channels like the Australia Network, Fox News etc and was not surprised to see that their correspondents were strategically placed in Israel where the "Israelis were living in constant fear." I call it shambolic journalism.
* "The Torah] forbids us to strive for the reunion or possession of the land by any but spiritual means."
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch
* "Not via our desire did we leave the land of Israel, and not via our power will we come back to the land of Israel."
Rabbi S.D. Schneerson
* "[Zionists] want a state in order to make Jews into heretics."
Rabbi C. Soloveichik
* "The Zionists have attacked the center point of Judaism."
Rabbi V. Soloveichik
Zionists are aware that their ideology utterly is baseless. Recently I watched a video of an interview with Yusuf al-Khattab, a Jewish convert to Islam. He came in contact with an Arab Muslim and started to learn about some of the teachings of Islam. He mentioned that he often repeated the questions he asked the Arab guy in front of Zionist Rabbis (he was living in Israel at the time) just to see what kind of answers they gave him. On one such occasion, he asked the question, "Do you think it is better if we live under the Islamic Sharia, where women are dressed modestly and such, or if we continue to live like the way we're doing right now?"
The Rabbi looked around, raised a finger to his lips and said, "Shh!"
"It was then that I realized what garbage people they were," said Yusuf, "they don't even stand up to what they believe."
Illegal Jewish settlers attempt to burn down a house containing a family of 20 Palestinians, who've climbed the roof of the house while Jews try to egg them from above. One of the many incidents that received little to no coverage by Western media sources.
But, amongst all the confusion created by the tyrants, lone voices of truth are speaking out. As Martin Luther King said, "The tragedy is not the brutality of evil but the silence of good people." In this age of mass media, we should feel obliged to deliver the truth to many who've been kept in the dark for too long. Like this Jewish Rabbi:
I also find it very saddening to see that many people of my age pay little to no attention to this. Many of them say, "There's nothing we can do" and that is it. But there is a lot we can do! We can pray to Allah to ease the suffering of the Gazans, to give them strength during these perilous times, to keep their faith in Allah strong, and insha Allah the state of Palestine will be ours again!
Fight those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loves not the transgressors. [The Holy Quran, 2:190]
And fight them on until there is no more tumult and oppression, and there prevail Justice and Faith in Allah. [The Holy Quran, 2:193]
And Slacken not in Following up on the Enemy: If you are suffering hardships, they are suffering similar hardships: But you have hope from God while they have none. God is full of Knowledge and Wisdom. [The Holy Quran 4: 104]
First, let's look at a brief history of Palestine. It is a place where many of the Prophets were born or died, including Ibrahim, Lut, Dawud, Sulayman, Musa and `Isa (peace be upon them). Also, we musn't forget that Baitul-Maqdis was the site of Prophet Muhammad's (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) Isra' and Mi'raj.
Palestine was brought under Islamic rule during the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. The new laws were welcomed not only by Muslims, but by the Christians and Jews as well. Prior to Islamic rule, the Palestinians had been living under the tyrannical Byzantines. In fact, after witnessing the humbleness of Umar (r.a) and the Muslims, Sophronius, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem gave him the keys to the city. There was also another famous incident where Umar was invited to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and when prayer time arrived he was given permission to pray inside the church by the Patriarch of Alexandria, Eutychius. However, Umar declined the offer and prayed outside the church instead, citing that if he prayed inside the church, he feared that future generations of Muslims may take it as an excuse to forcefully convert the church to a mosque. In addition to this, Jews were able to live in Jerusalem and practice their religion freely for the first time since they were banished 500 years prior to that. According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, 70 Jewish families took up residence in the city.
- 1099 A.C. Palestine was invaded by the European Crusaders and subsequently occupied for nearly a century. During the occupation massacres and great injustices were committed against the Muslim, Jewish and native Christian residents of the area. The only law applied in the holy land blessed by Allah was the law of force and persecution.
- 1187 A.C. Palestine was liberated by the Muslims under the leadership of Salahuddin Al-Ayyubi (Saladin the Magnificent) who brought back Islamic law to the area.
- 1917 the British government issued the Balfour Declaration which declared Palestine to be a homeland for Jews. At the time Jews made up approximately 8% of the population of Palestine and owned approximately 2.5% of the land.
- 1918 the British and their Arab nationalist allies defeated the Ottomans. The British dismembered the Ottoman Empire and occupied Palestine. The British immediately began a campaign of immigrating European Jews to Palestine.
- 1948 the Jews claimed the establishment of a state for themselves over the land of Palestine and called it Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were forced out of Palestine under the military pressure of Jewish terrorist groups such as the Irgun, Levi, and Haganot which were financed and armed by the British army.
- 1967 Israel attacked Egypt, Jordan and Syria and occupied more land including, for the first time, Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa. Since that time Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa has been the target of several attempts by the Jews to destroy or burn it, including several attempts to bring about its collapse through underground excavations. The Jews know that Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa is symbolic of the Islamic nature of the land and want to remove any trace of Islamic civilization from Palestine.
When we look at all these facts, one thing becomes crystal clear; it is only Islamic rule that will bring peace and prosperity to a country. For Islamic rule to be implemented, two factors must be considered;
1. Muslims should make up the majority of the population. The Zionists have been attempting to make people believe that creating two states, i.e. Palestine and Israel alongside each other, will help the citizens of both states to prosper. This will not work, and in any case, their main objective is to drive out the Muslims from the area.
2. The heads of the Palestinian state should consist of Muslims with sufficient knowledge of their religion, and enough thaqwa to act upon what they've learnt. Appointing pro-democrats will only contribute, yet again, to the downfall of the nation.
It must also be noted that anti-Zionism have been mentioned in the same breath as Antisemitism by Western media sources, so much so that many appear to believe that the two ideologies are the same thing. For an example, there was a meeting held by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and several anti-Zionist Rabbis to conduct discussions about the evils of Zionism. CNN covered this rather extensively it must be said, with the headline "DENYING THE HOLOCAUST", with Bush and his cronies appearing randomly to criticize the meeting, calling it antisemitic. In fact, one of the invitees of the meeting clearly mentioned just as the meeting began that it had nothing to do with the Holocaust, they weren't discussing anything about it. The only time that they mentioned the Holocaust was when they agreed upon the fact that Zionists were using in as an excuse to drive Palestinians out of their homeland. This brings us to a few words uttered by the Finnish Foreign Minister Errki Tuomioja back during 2001:
"I am shocked that Israel's policy is to humiliate, to hurt, and to impoverish the Palestinians. What could be the result of this except eternal hatred? Israel's actions are especially difficult to accept because the Jews, more than anyone else should know how horrible it is for a whole nation to be persecuted. It is very troubling that the policies of the Israelis against the Palestinians are similar to those which victimized them in the 1930s."
Predictably, he was much criticized after this. In this age of globalization, we're not allowed to look deep into the heinous acts of crime committed by the so-called saviors of the human race, i.e. USA, UK, and the rest of the G8. I was watched coverage of the Gaza massacre on several Western news channels like the Australia Network, Fox News etc and was not surprised to see that their correspondents were strategically placed in Israel where the "Israelis were living in constant fear." I call it shambolic journalism.
* "The Torah] forbids us to strive for the reunion or possession of the land by any but spiritual means."
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch
* "Not via our desire did we leave the land of Israel, and not via our power will we come back to the land of Israel."
Rabbi S.D. Schneerson
* "[Zionists] want a state in order to make Jews into heretics."
Rabbi C. Soloveichik
* "The Zionists have attacked the center point of Judaism."
Rabbi V. Soloveichik
Zionists are aware that their ideology utterly is baseless. Recently I watched a video of an interview with Yusuf al-Khattab, a Jewish convert to Islam. He came in contact with an Arab Muslim and started to learn about some of the teachings of Islam. He mentioned that he often repeated the questions he asked the Arab guy in front of Zionist Rabbis (he was living in Israel at the time) just to see what kind of answers they gave him. On one such occasion, he asked the question, "Do you think it is better if we live under the Islamic Sharia, where women are dressed modestly and such, or if we continue to live like the way we're doing right now?"
The Rabbi looked around, raised a finger to his lips and said, "Shh!"
"It was then that I realized what garbage people they were," said Yusuf, "they don't even stand up to what they believe."
Illegal Jewish settlers attempt to burn down a house containing a family of 20 Palestinians, who've climbed the roof of the house while Jews try to egg them from above. One of the many incidents that received little to no coverage by Western media sources.But, amongst all the confusion created by the tyrants, lone voices of truth are speaking out. As Martin Luther King said, "The tragedy is not the brutality of evil but the silence of good people." In this age of mass media, we should feel obliged to deliver the truth to many who've been kept in the dark for too long. Like this Jewish Rabbi:
I also find it very saddening to see that many people of my age pay little to no attention to this. Many of them say, "There's nothing we can do" and that is it. But there is a lot we can do! We can pray to Allah to ease the suffering of the Gazans, to give them strength during these perilous times, to keep their faith in Allah strong, and insha Allah the state of Palestine will be ours again!
Fight those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loves not the transgressors. [The Holy Quran, 2:190]
And fight them on until there is no more tumult and oppression, and there prevail Justice and Faith in Allah. [The Holy Quran, 2:193]
And Slacken not in Following up on the Enemy: If you are suffering hardships, they are suffering similar hardships: But you have hope from God while they have none. God is full of Knowledge and Wisdom. [The Holy Quran 4: 104]
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