salam alaikum fellow muslims, i think maybe that this site should hace a forum just for quates (hope i spelled this right) of leaders. such as sharons statement: "'Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that... I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.' - Ariel Sharon, October 3 2001." just a thought


ma3salama

we all know about the tragic situation in Rwanada...thousands of people has been killed and christanity left its marks as we hear confirmed reports about priests and nuns turning over Tutsi refugees to Hutu so Hutu kill them...even in one case Tutsi refugees went to hide in a church and so a nun told them that its Ok and that they are safe, and then she went to Hutu to tell them she has a good number of Tutsis in her church and so the Hutus killed the Tutsi refugees in front of the church as the nun was watching.."love your enemy"..religion of hypocrisy....btw...this Nun was convicted in the War Crimes Court.


now what about the true religion.


<b>Islam Attracting Many Survivors of Rwanda Genocide</b>


By Emily Wax


RUHENGERI, Rwanda -- The villagers with their forest green head wraps


and forest green Korans arrived at the mosque on a rainy Sunday


afternoon for a lecture for new converts. There was one main topic: jihad.


"<b>We have our own jihad, and that is our war against ignorance between </b>


Hutu and Tutsi. It is our struggle to heal," said Saleh Habimana, the


head mufti of Rwanda. "Our jihad is to start respecting each other and


living as Rwandans and as Muslims."


Since the genocide, Rwandans have <b>converted to Islam in huge numbers</b>.


Muslims now make up 14 percent of the 8.2 million people here in


<b>Africa's most Catholic nation</b>, twice as many as before the killings began.


Many converts say they chose Islam because of the role that some


Catholic and Protestant leaders played in the genocide. <b>Human rights groups </b>


have documented several incidents in which Christian clerics allowed


Tutsis to seek refuge in churches, then surrendered them to Hutu death


squads, as well as instances of Hutu priests and ministers encouraging


their congregations to kill Tutsis. Today some churches serve as


memorials to the many people slaughtered among their pews


Four clergymen are facing genocide charges at the U.N.-created


International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and last year in Belgium, the


former colonial power, two Rwandan nuns were convicted of murder for their


roles in the massacre of <b>7,000 Tutsis </b>who sought protection at a


Benedictine convent.


<b>In contrast, many Muslim leaders and families are being honored for </b>


protecting and hiding those who were fleeing.


Some say Muslims did this because of the religion's strong dictates


against murder, though Christian doctrine proscribes it as well. Others


say Muslims, always considered an ostracized minority, were not swept


up in the Hutus' campaign of bloodshed and were unafraid of supporting a


cause they felt was honorable.


"<b>I know people in America think Muslims are terrorists, but for </b>


Rwandans they were our freedom fighters during the genocide," said Jean


Pierre Sagahutu, 37, a Tutsi who converted to Islam from Catholicism after


his father and nine other members of his family were slaughtered. "I


wanted to hide in a church, but that was the worst place to go. Instead,


a Muslim family took me. They saved my life."


Sagahutu said his father had worked at a hospital where he was


friendly with a Muslim family. They took Sagahutu in, even though they were


Hutus. "I watched them pray five times a day. I ate with them and I saw


how they lived," he said. "When they pray, Hutu and Tutsi are in the


same mosque. There is no difference. I needed to see that."


Islam has long been a religion of the downtrodden. In the Middle East


and South Asia, the religion has had a strong focus on outreach to the


poor and tackling social ills by banning alcohol and encouraging sexual


modesty. In the United States, Malcolm X used a form of Islam to


encourage economic and racial empowerment among blacks.


Muslim leaders say they have a natural constituency in Rwanda, where


AIDS and poverty have replaced genocide as the most daunting problems.


"Islam fits into the fabric of our society. It helps those who are in


poverty. It preaches against behaviors that create AIDS. It offers


education in the Koran and Arabic when there is not a lot of education being


offered," said Habimana, the chief mufti. "I think people can relate to


Islam. They are converting as a sign of appreciation to the Muslim


community who sheltered them during the genocide."


While Western governments worry that the growth of Islam carries with


it the danger of militancy, there are few signs of militant Islam in


Rwanda. Nevertheless, some government officials quietly express concern


that some of the mosques receive funding from Saudi Arabia, whose


dominant Wahhabi sect has been embraced by militant groups in other parts of


the world. They also worry that high poverty rates and a traumatized


population make Rwanda the perfect breeding ground for Islamic extremism.


But Nish Imiyimana, an imam here in Ruhengeri, about 45 miles


northwest of Kigali, the capital, contends: "We have enough of our own


problems. We don't want a bomb dropped on us by America. We want American NGOs


[nongovernmental organizations] to come and build us hospitals


instead."


Imams across the country held meetings after Sept. 11, 2001, to


clarify what it means to be a Muslim. "I told everyone, 'Islam means peace,'


" said Imiyimana, recalling that the mosque was packed that day.


"Considering our track record, it wasn't hard to convince them."


That fact worries the Catholic church. Priests here said they have


asked for advice from church leaders in Rome about how to react to the


number of converts to Islam.


"The Catholic church has a problem after genocide," said the Rev.


Jean Bosco Ntagugire, who works at Kigali churches. "The trust has been


broken. We can't say, 'Christians come back.' We have to hope that


happens when faith builds again."


To help make that happen, the Catholic church has started to offer


youth sports programs and camping trips, Ntagugire said. But Muslims are


also reaching out, even forming women's groups that provide classes on


child care and being a mother.


At a recent class here, hundreds of women dressed in red, orange and


purple head coverings gathered in a dark clay building. They talked


about their personal struggle, or jihad, to raise their children well. And


afterward, during a lunch of beans and chicken legs, they ate heartily


and shared stories about how Muslims saved them during the genocide.


"If it weren't for the Muslims, my whole family would be dead," said


Aisha Uwimbabazi, 27, a convert and mother of two children. "I was


very, very thankful for Muslim people during the genocide. I thought about


it and I really felt it was right to change."


http://rwandarugali.tripod.com/rwanda/id120.html


brothers and sisters...if you loved what you read then don't forget the great Mujahid Abdollah Ibn Yassin who made great effort to deliever the message of Islam to africans in the 12th century...and due to Allah blessing and his efforts we have brothers and sisters in Ghana,Nigeria,Rwanada,Burundi,Senegal and many other african countries.

Song of Jenin


Not enough tears on earth


to wash away the blood


Not enough blood on earth


To wash away the pain


Not enough faith on earth


to take away my shame





Pain in my heart


too hard to bear


Shame in my heart


For when I looked..


My brother was not there


I held up my head in pride


When the soldiers came


They never broke the man inside


Never flinched in pain,


never gave up my pride


I fought In Allah's name


For brotherhood I would have died


Couldn't you hear the cries


Couldn't you feel the pain


Didn't you realize


The butcher was back again


Fought a tank with a stone


But never thought I'd fight alone


Pain in my heart


To hard to bear


Shame in my heart


for when I looked..


my brother was not there


Did you hear me call your name


I tried to hold my ground


But my brother never came


No enemy cuts so deep


As when brother watches brother


Be slaughtered like a sheep


What no gun could ever do


You have done to me


I have lost much faith in you


And my heart will never be


Whole or happy or healed


Until Palestine is free


Until Islam sees unity

Come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses....


FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR DAILY LIVING, PLANT THREE ROWS OF PEAS:


Peace of mind


Peace of heart


Peace of soul


PLANT FOUR ROWS OF SQUASH:


Squash gossip


Squash indifference


Squash grumbling


Squash selfishness


PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE:


Lettuce be faithful


Lettuce be kind


Lettuce be patient


Lettuce really love one another


NO GARDEN IS WITHOUT TURNIPS:


Turnip for meetings


Turnip for service


Turnip to help one another


TO CONCLUDE OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME:


Thyme for each other


Thyme for family


Thyme for friends


WATER FREELY WITH PATIENCE AND CULTIVATE WITH LOVE THERE IS MUCH FRUIT IN YOUR GARDEN BECAUSE YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

Two Travelling Angels


Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied,


"Things aren't always what they seem."


The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After offering what little food they had the couple, yet the angels only told them that they need to rest, let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. (Little did they know that angels need not rest) When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.


The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen?


The first man had everything, yet you helped him..


The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die?".


"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied.


"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it."


"Then last night as we slept in the farmers bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I prayed to Our Lord to take the cow instead,


"Things aren't always what they seem."


Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every out come is always to your advantage. You just might not know it until some time later...

Washington, DC—In an interview Aug. 12 with RFA's Diplomatic Reporter Arin Basu and a group of Japanese journalists, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would help bear the cost of dismantling North Korea's plutonium and highly enriched uranium program. However, he said North Korea has to agree to "totally irreversible" dismantlement. In the broad-ranging interview, Secretary Powell also told RFA that Uyghur Muslims detained at Guantanamo Bay on charges of terrorism would not be returned to China. He said the Uyghurs "are not going to China" but where they will be relocated remains unresolved.


On Burma, Secretary Powell said that the international community must do more to put pressure on the Burmese regime. He said Burma is missing a "golden opportunity" to democratize. It is not enough, he said, for Burma to simply have a road map to democracy "if it's not a real road map and if it doesn't allow for pluralistic activities within the political system." He added that if Aung San Suu Kyi continues to be denied political participation the United State would seek "other levers" to apply against the regime.


Read excerpts from the interview with RFA's Arin Basu:


RFA: Can the Nunn-Lugar program be applied to North Korea? If North Korea decides to dismantle its program, would you give them money and expertise to jointly dismantle, the way it was done in the Soviet Union?


SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know whether it would be under the Nunn-Lugar framework, but certainly if North Korea moves in this direction we understand that outside resources would be needed to help North Korea. I think the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would have a role to play and all of the other parties to the six-party talks would have a role to play.


RFA: In money and expertise?


SECRETARY POWELL: Under the Agreed Framework we had experts who were monitoring things in North Korea, as was the IAEA, but I think just as we did with Libya in helping to remove the burden that it had of these programs, we would certainly help North Korea.


It's important to say, though, it has to be done in the context of something that is totally irreversible and it has to be done in the context of the entire program, all aspects of the program, and it has to be an acknowledgement of not only the previous programs of plutonium, but the enriched uranium programs as well.


So, in that context, and that's the six-party talks, certainly the United States would be willing to assist with the cost of removal, destruction and total elimination of the programs.


RFA: What would be the fate of the Uyghur detainees at Guantanamo Bay? Are they going to be given asylum in the U.S.? We understand they're not going to be sent back to China. Are they going to be relocated to a third country?


SECRETARY POWELL: The Uyghurs are a difficult problem and we are trying to resolve all issues with respect to all detainees at Guantanamo. The Uyghurs are not going back to China, but finding places for them is not a simple matter. We are trying to find places for them, and, of course, all candidate countries are being looked at.


RFA: Democracy in Burma has not progressed an inch. There is no evidence that the U.S. sanctions on Burma have, in any way, in any significant way, affected the military junta. The national convention was held without the NLD (National League for Democracy) participation. What more can the U.S. and the international community do?


SECRETARY POWELL: I'm disappointed that the Government of Burma has not moved in a positive direction with respect to democracy, with respect to letting Aung San Suu Kyi participate in her party, participate in the life, political life of Burma. I think Burma is missing a golden opportunity.


The United States has, perhaps, been the most outspoken country in the world on this subject, and we have not only been outspoken, but we have used what we can with our sanctions policy to express our displeasure to the Burmese Government.


I do it at every one of my Asia meetings. I do it every year at the ASEAN Regional Forum. And rather than saying, 'What more can the United States do?', what more can the rest of the international community do, because not all members of the international community have spoken out as clearly on this issue and have taken the actions they might take to put pressure on the regime.


And so we will continue to put pressure on the regime. We will not have a satisfactory relationship with Burma until this matter is resolved. And it is not enough to say, 'Well, we have a road map to democracy,' if it is not a real road map and if it doesn't allow pluralistic activities within the political system. And as long as Aung San Suu Kyi is denied the opportunity to participate in the political life of Burma, and her party is so denied, then we will continue to speak out strongly and find out if there are any other levers one can apply against the regime


LINK:http://origin.rfaweb.org/front/article.html?service=eng&encoding=10&id=143618

2004-07-30


WASHINGTON, July 28, 2004—A court in the Muslim Uyghur region of Xinjiang in northwest China has jailed a journalist who reported on political tensions there for separatist activities and leaking state secrets overseas, RFA's Uyghur service reports.


Abdulghani Memetemin, 40, was handed a nine-year jail term by the Intermediate People's Court in the Xinjiang city of Kashgar, according to a copy of the court judgement sent to RFA.


"Abdulghani Memetemin is accused of threatening the integrity of the state by separatist means, violating state secrets and sending them outside the country," the Kashgar court judgement said.


The judgement listed 18 counts of the charges against the former reporter for the Germany-based East Turkistan Information Center (ETIC), who was forced to work secretly and had warned ETIC that he was likely to be caught.


They included such news reports as the detention of a well-known Muslim cleric, discrimination against Uyghurs for adhering to Islamic religious practices by their employers, and an undercover trip to Central Asian countries by 20 Chinese State Security officers disguised as businessmen, it said.


The judgement also singled out Abdulghani Memetemin's translations into Chinese of key official speeches and news about oppression of Uyghurs, an issue of possibly even greater sensitivity for Beijing than the reporting of the pro-independence viewpoint overseas.


While the court found Abdulghani Memetemin guilty of violating secret state information, it said he could not be said to have threatened the integrity of the state. The judgement cited his helpful attitude and acceptance of the charges against him. Memetemin represented himself during the proceedings. His argument — that he had no separatist intentions &mdsah; was dismissed, according to the judgment.


It said the accused's assertion: "I admitted all my crimes and ask the court to consider this" was taken into consideration. But ETIC said he had been tortured at the hands of Chinese security officials.


"To claim that [Abdulghani Memetemin] disclosed the nation's secrets to people overseas and attempted to "split" the country is total slander," the East Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) said in a recent e-mail to Amnesty International forwarded to RFA's Uyghur service. "He never attended any political activities."


"According to our information, since he was arrested, he was inhumanly tortured by the Chinese government and his family members were banned from visiting him," ETIC said, calling for Abdulghani Memetemin's release.


The judgement concluded: "The crimes of the accused Abdulghani Memetemin are grave and the damage to the state secrecy is great and requires therefore a heavy punishment." Memetemin was sentenced to nine years in prison and "deprivation of political rights" for three years. The term of punishment ends in July 2011.


Human rights groups and Western governments routinely criticize China for its heavy-handed treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang.


Beijing has backed the U.S.-led war on terror, and called for international support for its campaign against Uyghur separatists, whom it has branded terrorists.


China says Uyghurs seeking an independent Islamic state have killed 162 people and injured 440 others.


Uyghurs constitute a distinct, Turkic-speaking, Muslim minority in northwestern China and Central Asia. They declared a short-lived East Turkestan Republic in Xinjiang in the late 1940s, but have remained under Beijing's control since 1949.


According to a Chinese Government white paper, in 1998 Xinjiang comprised 8 million Uyghurs, 2.5 million other ethnic minorities, and 6.4 million Han Chinese-up from 300,000 Han in 1949. Most Uyghurs are poor farmers, and at least 25 percent are illiterate

BEIJING, Aug 13 (AFP) - China has executed two Muslims who were among 18 Uighurs convicted of separatism in the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang, local officials said Friday.


The group, all alleged members of the little-known East Turkestan People`s Party, were sentenced on July 21 by the Intermediate People`s Court in Aksu city in Xinjiang, said Ma Lin, deputy director of the court in Shaya county, where the defendants lived.


"Two were sentenced to death and have been executed," Ma told AFP.


Two others were sentenced to life imprisonment.


The Aksu court could not be reached for comment.


A spokesman for the Germany-based overseas Uighur activist group World Uighur Congress said the other 14 defendants were sentenced to five to 20 years in prison.


"Some of them were businessmen, some were religious people. Others had been harassed by the Chinese government," said the spokesman Dilxat Raxit.


All 18 defendants were charged with illegally organizing a political party, using armed tactics to split the country, concealing guns, ammunition and explosives, and illegally producing, buying and selling as well as transporting weapons and explosives, Raxit said.


The court official did not name the defendants, but Raxit said the two executed men were Akmed Tash, president of the group, and Lokman Mamet, treasurer, using the phonetic spellings of their names.


The case highlights what many believe is growing dissatisfaction among Uighurs in China, given the Chinese government`s stepped up crackdown against them after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.


A reporter of a local paper in Aksu indicated Friday there were many groups formed by dissatisfied Uighurs in the area -- a sign of continuing tension in the region despite government efforts to quell dissent.


"The East Turkestan People`s Party is one of many such terrorist groups in this area," said Gong Xise, a reporter for the Aksu Daily.


He said one of the 18 people sentenced were trained in Afghanistan and had fought against American troops and then returned to China from Afghanistan.


This could not be immediately confirmed.


"They participated in setting off explosions, kidnapping and robbery and other terrorists activities," Gong said.


Most Uighur political parties in Xinjiang support independence, Raxit said, adding China`s tactics created more dissent.


Human rights groups have accused the Chinese government of using the global anti-terror campaign to harshly punish Uighurs who held dissenting fews, even those who were non-violent.


"We hope the international community will pay attention to this," Raxit said. "We`re being sacrificed in the global anti-terrorism cause. We`ve become the only people in China sentenced by death because of political activities since 1989."


A local official told AFP in August ethnic and religious tensions are flaring up again in a Muslim-majority district in Hotan, southern Xinjiang, neighboring Aksu.


Uighurs make up the predominant majority of the population in southern Xinjiang while more Han Chinese live in the north, which is better developed.

As Salam alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuhu.....


Iv not been on islammassage for a while, but as i logged on i see we have a new section on who is celebrating there birthday today.


This brought me to think........ from my understanding we as muslims should not celebrate our birthday as the prophet Mohammad (pbuh) never used to celebrate his birthday, infact he used to fast on his birthday, so we as muslims should follow the sunnah.


He Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) was asked about fasting on Monday, he said: That is the day i was born and the day (the first Revelation) was send down on me. (Muslim)


This hadith to me shows we are alloud to acknowledge that it is ones birthday, but i have come across nothing to say we are alloud to celebrate it.


Please correct me if im wrong...this is to my knowledge and open to discussion, if it has not been discussed already on this forum.


Salam.

Iraq handover was only a media-hype


----------------------------------------------


By Tariq Ali


Most legends contain a small grain of truth, but none is to be found in the fraudulent images being presented each day by the BBC (and the US networks). The print media is not much better.


Official propaganda is constantly repeated in sentences such as: "On June 28 the United States and its coalition partners transferred sovereign control of Iraq to an interim government headed by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. The transfer of sovereignty ended more than a year of American-led occupation".


Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies admit that the size of the resistance increases every day. If Moqtada al-Sadr were to be captured or killed in the fighting taking place in Najaf, the steady trickle of recruits could become a flood.


In such a situation and with no official opposition to the occupation in the Commons it should be the responsibility of the media to ensure that some truth, at least, is regularly reported.


The capitulation of the BBC has been in evidence ever since the Hutton whitewash. This is not just a question of journalists censoring themselves. Earlier this summer the new director- general Mark Thompson reportedly told a meeting of the corporation's news board there was a "perception" that BBC news was too leftwing and critical of the government - a perception which needed to be corrected. He must be happy now.


The notion that Iraq today is a sovereign state governed by Iraqis is a grotesque fiction. Every Iraqi citizen, regardless of political views or religious affiliation, is aware of the actual status of the country. And if the BBC carries on in this fashion, its credibility, already at an all-time low, could disappear altogether.


Condoleezza Rice, the US national security adviser, declared some months back: "We want to change the Iraqi mind." But the US-funded Arab TV channel called Truth has proved a dismal failure. And now, to prevent any alternative images from reaching Iraqis and the rest of the world, a plucky puppet at the "ministry of information" has banned al-Jazeera TV from reporting out of Iraq - a traditional recipe from an oppressive cookbook.


The "handover", designed largely to convince US citizens that they could now relax and re-elect Bush, was also an invitation to the western media to downgrade coverage of Iraq, which it dutifully did.


As Paul Krugman noted in the New York Times last week: "Iraq stories moved to the inside pages of newspapers, and largely off TV screens. Many people got the impression that things had improved. Even journalists were taken in: newspaper stories asserted that the rate of US losses there fell after the hand-off. (Actual figures: 42 American soldiers died in June, and 54 in July)."


Like previous confections to justify the war, this one is not working either. Of the two Iraqis plucked from obscurity to be the front men for the occupation, "President" Yawar is a relatively harmless telecoms manager from Saudi Arabia.


He was perfectly happy to don tribal gear for official functions and photo-ops with Rumsfeld and the boys. "Prime minister" Allawi was at one time a low-grade intelligence employee for Saddam, reporting on dissident Iraqis in London.


Subsequently, Anglo- American intelligence outfits recruited him. After the first Gulf war he was sent to destabilize the regime. His hirelings bombed a cinema and a bus carrying children.


Before the war Allawi helped manufacture the 45-minute WMD delivery systems warning for the dodgy dossier men in No 10. After the occupation he was rewarded and put on the "governing council". He then hired a lobbying firm, which spent $370,000 campaigning in Washington for him to be made prime minister, and also got him a column in the Washington Post.


As "prime minister" he cultivates a thuggish image. On July 17 in a remarkable despatch from Baghdad, Paul McGeough, the Australian correspondent, (and former editor of the Sydney Morning Herald) alleged: "Iyad Allawi, the new prime minister of Iraq, pulled a pistol and executed as many as six suspected insurgents at a Baghdad police station, just days before Washington handed control of the country to his interim government, according to two people who allege they witnessed the killings.


"They say the prisoners - handcuffed and blindfolded - were lined up against a wall in a courtyard adjacent to the maximum- security cell block in which they were held at the al-Amariyah security centre ... They say Dr Allawi told onlookers the victims had each killed as many as 50 Iraqis and they 'deserved worse than death'."


McGeough's report continued: "The prime minister's office has denied the entirety of the witness accounts in a written statement ... saying Dr Allawi had never visited the centre and he did not carry a gun. But the informants told the Herald that Dr Allawi shot each young man in the head as about a dozen Iraqi policemen and four Americans from the prime minister's personal security team watched in stunned silence." McGeough appears regularly on TV and radio to defend his story, which does not go away.


The fact is that Iraq is in a much bigger mess today than before the war. The situation was summed up by a former inmate of Abu Ghraib prison: "We want electricity in our homes, not up the arse."


The citizens of the aggressor states can see this for themselves and regardless of the media will, one must hope, punish their leaders for taking them to war - regardless of the fact that the alternatives on offer are so weak.


The defeat of the warmongers, if it happens, will be the outcome of what is happening in Baghdad and Basra, Fallujah and Najaf. Even if they try and brush aside the 37,000 Iraqi civilians killed in this conflict, according to a recent estimate by an Iraq-based NGO, Bush and Blair will not forget the names of the cities whose people refuse to surrender. There is only one serious option: the unconditional withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq. -Dawn/The Guardian News Service.