Eid Mubarak to my MUSLIM, Sunni, Selafi friends ONLY

Eid.

I want to talk about our Muslim Eid, the murder of a young Muslim girl in the UK and the hate among Muslims, for this poor girl because of her sect.

Yes, Eid al-Fitr translates as “Festival” is upon us, today in some places, tomorrow in others and depending on which sect one belongs to, day after tomorrow in other areas.. This is the time when Ramadan ends and Haj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage begins. Muslims from all over the world, converge at Mecca to perform their once-in-a-lifetime, Islamic obligation. At Haj, there are no distinctions of wealth, race, sect, gender, national origin or anything else, we ALL stand among equals. We celebrate as equals and we wish each other “Eid Mubarak” (“Blessed Festival”) as Muslims, we even share it with our non-Muslim friends. Eid Mubarak!

Interfaith Activities and Muslims in America

The three Abrahamic faiths are deep in interfaith activities. Among Jews, Christians and Muslims faith-house leaders meet with their counterparts; Jews and Muslims, Muslims and Christians, boards with boards and meetings go on. Everybody feels good that we are intermingling, we Muslims feel great that we are connecting with the other faiths and ‘interfaith’ is happening. We stroke each other’s egos and incessantly compare the common features of out holy texts to prove that we are actually, more similar than we are different.

The goal for Muslims is to communicate with the others, with Jews and Christians because they hold the keys to existence for Muslims in America. “Islam is a religion of Peace!” has become a mantra repeated everywhere and people are becoming tired of this slogan. As Muslims, we cannot afford to communicate with faith-leaders and ignore the common person on the street because it is the common person who will ultimately protect us from America’s fanatical ultra-patriots and from leaders like Donald Trump and his Islam-hating Cabinet and advisors.

Muslims need to take a different approach.

Pakistani REAL Muslims kill Ahmedi “False” Muslim

“A fanatic is a man who does what he thinks God would do, if He knew the facts of the case“. So said Finley Peter Dunne, of the Chicago tribune.

 

Today, we have fanatics who know more than God does and therefore, do what God should be doing but does not. If it were not so serious, it would be funny that these fanatics are to be found in every faith, doing their evils in the name of God…the same God for all…but doing it to different people. That is the problem with fanatics, they do not understand their own religion as they should and the only cure they know for any transgression, is death.

 

Pakistani Dr. Mehdi Ali Qamar, living in Ohio, decided to go, as he did so often and work free for a week in Pakistan as a cardiologist, in order to help the poor. The hospital is run by Qadianis (Ahmedis) and even though it provides free medical aid to the poorest of the people, the Pakistan Fanatics Inc., has declared treatment at the hospital to be “Haram” forbidden. Dr. Qamar stopped at a cemetery to pray for his relatives who are buried there and as he was leaving, two men drove up in a motorbike and put ten bullets in him. Dr. Qamar died right there (Pickerington doctor killed by gunmen in Pakistan). He is survived by three children and his wife, he died for the ultimate crime of being an Ahmedi which is punishable by death, in Pakistan.

Bilal Philips and Innovations (Christmas etc.,) in Islam

Normally, when I receive an e-mail with a link and “Must See!!!”, without any further explanations, I delete it because I do not have the time to check it out to see if the link will actually lead me to an interesting site where I might learn something. I figure if the sender does not have the time to explain what s-he is sending, then it is not worth my time to read it either.

This time, I received an e-mail saying, ” Innovation in the Religion -‘Christmas’,  Birthdays’“. Inside was a comment:

Here is one of many Lectures provided by Sheik, Dr. Bilal Philips, on the topic of Innovations in our Religion 

“Innovation” as used in Islam, is a re-designing of the religion in a way that is different from the Quran. I had to learn more…

With Christmas approaching, I was once again, seeing opinions flying around that it is “Haram” (forbidden) to celebrate Christmas or, even to respond to someone’s “Merry Christmas”. Not just Haram, it is actually a rejection of Islam to do so!

I also wanted to see what was being identified as “innovation in our religion (Islam)”.

Role of Mosques in Politics

For some reason, Muslims in America have developed an allergy to the word, “politics“. We use this word to reject any discussion about our role in America, about Islam in America, about getting engaged in America and even about our own, internal structures of Muslim organizations (Masajid etc.,) in America.

Say, “this is just palitiks” and that ends all further discussions.

Yet everything we do, everything we live through is derived from politics…everything. Our ability to build a mosque close to where a number of us live, is from politics, our tax-free status is from politics, our job security is from politics and our protections, are from politics.

So are all the things used to attack us with…

Targeting Muslims in America is a political decision.

Please Retire Your Copy of “THE NOBLE QURAN”

I have seen about a dozen different English translations of the Quran and have many of them. While they each differ slightly because of individual translator differences, the differences are minor nuances and keep faithfully to the original Arabic, which is alongside all of them, except one which is entirely in English.

 

One of the earlier and more popular English translations of the Quran is the version by Marmaduke Pickthall, is is pretty good except it is in old English with too many “Thee” and “Thou”, “maketh” and “shouldst” so it is not an easy read.

Other versions are pretty easy to read and understand and as I said, they all keep to the same message even when they sometimes, use different words.

 

All except for “THE NOBLE QURAN”, by Al-Hilali and Muhsin Khan with its diabolical translations.

Muslim & American; The Two Faces of the West

Sometimes, I think God has a macabre sense of humor. He allows us to firmly place ourselves in a self-righteous position and then deftly pulls the rug away from under us by presenting  an entirely contrary situation.

Take the case of the mass-murderer in Afghanistan.

On Sunday, March 11, 2012, the soldier slaughtered 4 Afghan men, 3 women and 9 children, dragged their bodies into one place and set them on fire. Then he calmly walked back to his base and surrendered saying, “I did it”.  For the next FIVE days, all we were allowed to know about his identity was that he is a Staff Sergeant from Joint Base Lewis McCord (JBLM) in Tacoma Washington. The military said they were keeping his identity quiet in order to protect his family.

Pakistan’s JF-17 Presentation in Dubai Air Show

Guns or butter? that has been the single driving question throughout history.

 

Pakistan’s JF-17 is a nice fighter jet that speaks well for Pakistan’s military assembly and production plants. The aircraft is a Chinese design, made up of components from many countries (mostly Chinese, some Russian and Western) and assembled in Pakistan, I doubt if it is better that the US F-16 and F-18s in any respects except for being cheaper. By next year, it is estimated that Pakistan will be producing 58% of the components itself.

 

It is a national disgrace, that these aircraft were first used against the people of South Waziristan.

 

That said, it is a national tragedy for Pakistan to be so involved in building war machines that cost BILLIONS and become obsolete after just a few years

Action! America’s March Towards Nazism?

Mission Creep: Start with a plan to do something and before you know it, the mission has ballooned to include all sorts of other things.

These days, Muslims are being persecuted to greater and greater degree, in many cases, harkening back to the “good old days” of the Hitlerian Final Solution, which is an example of another Mission Creep (See Action plan at the end).

9-11; the Facts, the Fiction and the Emotions

Today is the ninth anniversary of the terrible tragedy that we call 9-11. There are observances all over the world, people crying as they recall their lost loved ones or, that terrible day.

In these sincere, honest expressions of pain, there are also expressions of people whose hate of Islam and Muslims is so consuming that for them, there is no other reality except that Islam and Muslims are