As salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh,


Please spread the word NOW. (Also, he has a class in MD same day- Allah Akbar: seize the opportunity of two classes from Sh. Safi in one day)


The Qur'an Institute of Dar-us-Salaam is pleased to announce the opening of its second branch, in McLean VA, starting on Saturday, January 17, 2009. Qur'an classes will meet every Saturday from 11.15 am - 1.45 pm, for students ages 4 years and above. For more information, and to register on-line, pleaseclick here.


The Open House, Registration & Placement Test for these classes will be held on January 8 and 9, from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm at McLean High School(1633 Davidson Road, McLean VA 22101). Parents/Students can come on any one of these days, at any time between these hours. Interested? Visit our website at http://www.darussalaam.org/EducationDrive/...Lean%20Virginia


For Parents of the students and other community members: every Saturday, while your children are in the Qur'an classes, you can enjoy a series of lectures by Br Safi Khan, titled Sincerity, at McLean High School as well, from 1.00 pm to 1.45 pm insha Allah.


Questions? Email quran@darussalaam.org or visit http://www.darussalaam.org/EducationDrive/...Lean%20Virginia.


Excited? Forward this email to people you think may want to get excited like yourself :)


Interested in Teaching? Send your resume to quran@darussalaam.org


Assalamu alaikum


As salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh,


Please spread the word NOW. (Also, he has a class in MD same day- Allah Akbar: seize the opportunity of two classes from Sh. Safi in one day)


The Qur'an Institute of Dar-us-Salaam is pleased to announce the opening of its second branch, in McLean VA, starting on Saturday, January 17, 2009. Qur'an classes will meet every Saturday from 11.15 am - 1.45 pm, for students ages 4 years and above. For more information, and to register on-line, pleaseclick here.


The Open House, Registration & Placement Test for these classes will be held on January 8 and 9, from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm at McLean High School(1633 Davidson Road, McLean VA 22101). Parents/Students can come on any one of these days, at any time between these hours. Interested? Visit our website at http://www.darussalaam.org/EducationDrive/...Lean%20Virginia


For Parents of the students and other community members: every Saturday, while your children are in the Qur'an classes, you can enjoy a series of lectures by Br Safi Khan, titled Sincerity, at McLean High School as well, from 1.00 pm to 1.45 pm insha Allah.


Questions? Email quran@darussalaam.org or visit http://www.darussalaam.org/EducationDrive/...Lean%20Virginia.


Excited? Forward this email to people you think may want to get excited like yourself :)


Interested in Teaching? Send your resume to quran@darussalaam.org


Assalamu alaikum


As salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh,


Please spread the word NOW. (Also, he has a class in MD same day- Allah Akbar: seize the opportunity of two classes from Sh. Safi in one day)


The Qur'an Institute of Dar-us-Salaam is pleased to announce the opening of its second branch, in McLean VA, starting on Saturday, January 17, 2009. Qur'an classes will meet every Saturday from 11.15 am - 1.45 pm, for students ages 4 years and above. For more information, and to register on-line, pleaseclick here.


The Open House, Registration & Placement Test for these classes will be held on January 8 and 9, from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm at McLean High School(1633 Davidson Road, McLean VA 22101). Parents/Students can come on any one of these days, at any time between these hours. Interested? Visit our website at http://www.darussalaam.org/EducationDrive/...Lean%20Virginia


For Parents of the students and other community members: every Saturday, while your children are in the Qur'an classes, you can enjoy a series of lectures by Br Safi Khan, titled Sincerity, at McLean High School as well, from 1.00 pm to 1.45 pm insha Allah.


Questions? Email quran@darussalaam.org or visit http://www.darussalaam.org/EducationDrive/...Lean%20Virginia.


Excited? Forward this email to people you think may want to get excited like yourself :)


Interested in Teaching? Send your resume to quran@darussalaam.org


Assalamu alaikum

Bismillah


as salam alykom


The following is an email I received from an American co worker who lives in Cairo, this is how he analysied the situation and took action. I wonder how Johndoe sees this person for supporting Gaza??


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


Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip


To:


Friends and colleagues:


I am moved to email you about an issue that has been difficult to address openly in the United States.


Suddenly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at its worst point in 40 years. But the coming of a new administration in the United States means we can change the way the U.S. interacts with all the players in that conflict, which is still the thorny core of America's broken relationship with the Middle East.


In recent years, the U.S. has allowed one player to do pretty much whatever it wants over there.


Each one of us can contribute to the solution by calling or emailing our representatives and telling them it's time for the U.S. to press the players to make peace, not just back one side.


It is time to stop throwing up our hands and saying, "It will always be like this! Those people just can't get along." That's an excuse. It's a political problem, and there is a political solution waiting. A complicated and time-consuming one. It's time to stop allowing one player to use the quick and simple approach of overwhelming force.


It is time to raise our voices and demand an end to the Israeli military's pummeling of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli government says it is retaliating against the Gaza Strip for missile strikes allowed or abetted by the militant political party Hamas in violation of a ceasefire. But these airstrikes are not a reasonable act of self-defense against faceless "terror." Not even close.


Let's add it up. Below:


1. The harm of Hamas' missiles fired at Israel


2. The scope of Israel's retaliation


3. Number of deaths on both sides in recent years


4. Who broke the truce?


5. The damage from Israel's ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip


6. Are the Israeli airstrikes a proportionate reaction?


7. Is it impossible to negotiate with Hamas?


8. Will the airstrikes bring Israel peace?


9. How can an individual affect this situation?


1. The harm of Hamas' missiles fired at Israel


As described by the American Jewish newspaper Forward, Dec. 24, 2008, http://www.forward.com/articles/14794/


"Living near Gaza can be a traumatic experience. Over the past six years, thousands of rockets and mortar rounds have been launched across the border into Israel. On a bad day, every few hours there is a bang, or a number of bangs. One does not know where the next rocket will land. ... Israelis are once again confronted with the question of how to bring quiet to their border with Gaza For all the thousands of Qassam rockets that have fallen on Sderot and other communities, relatively few Israelis have died as a result. Indeed, only 16 people have been killed by rockets and mortar fire from Gaza into Israel. In part, the low rate of Israeli fatalities is due to the primitive nature of the rockets — simple metal tubes with fins soldered to them, small warheads and no guidance mechanism whatsoever. In part, it is due to the countermeasures taken by the Israeli army, which have grown increasingly effective."


Dec. 30, 2008, AFP: "Since Saturday, Gaza militants have fired more than 250 rockets and mortar rounds into Israel, killing four people and wounding two dozen more."


2. The scope of Israel's retaliation


From the wire service Agence France Presse, Dec. 30, 2008:


"the campaign has killed at least 345 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,550, Gaza medics said. ... At least 57 civilians, including 21 children, have been killed in the Israeli bombardment, a UN spokesman said."


3. Deaths on both sides in recent years


Killings in the Gaza Strip and Israel, October 2000 through November 2008


Excludes killings in the West Bank


In the Gaza Strip


In Israel


Total in Gaza + Israel


Gaza Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces


2,990


30*


3,020


Gaza Palestinians killed by Israeli civilians


4


0


4


Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians


39


490**


529


Israeli security force personnel killed by Palestinians


97


90**


187


Source: http://www.btselem.org/english/Statistic...alties.asp *7 other killed Palestinians were West Bank or Gaza, undetermined. **Includes killings by West Bank Palestinians


4. Who broke the truce?


9 December 2008, Statement of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk:


http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf...B2?opendocument


"It should be noted that the situation worsened in recent days due to the breakdown of a truce between Hamas and Israel that had been observed for several months by both sides. The truce was maintained by Hamas despite the failure of Israel to fulfill its obligation under the agreement to improve the living conditions of the people of Gaza. The recent upsurge of violence occurred after an Israeli incursion that killed several alleged Palestinian militants within Gaza. It is a criminal violation of international law for elements of Hamas or anyone else to fire rockets at Israeli towns regardless of provocation, but such Palestinian behavior does not legalize Israel's imposition of a collective punishment of a life- and health-threatening character on the people of Gaza, and should not distract the UN or international society from discharging their fundamental moral and legal duty to render protection to the Palestinian people."


Opposing viewpoint: Jonathan Spyer, columnist, The Guardian (UK), Dec. 29, 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...a-hamas-israel1 :


"A Hamas official [believed that] Hamas-controlled Gaza had far more leeway to act as it wished vis-a-vis Israel ... because the experience of the Lebanon war of 2006 meant Israel now feared confrontation, and would seek to accommodate, in return for a short period of renewed quiet. This perception led Hamas recklessly to permit an increase in rocket fireon the western Negev as the end of the lull [ceasefire] approached ... believ[ing] that, in so doing, it could force a renewed ceasefire with better terms upon a weakened Israel. The improved terms would include opened crossings and an extension of the ceasefire to include Hamas on the West Bank.


"The current Israeli campaign is therefore aimed ... at correcting th[at] perception [and] to demonstrate to Hamas that its own willingness to throw away the lives of its fighters in combat, and the lives of Palestinian civilians among whom it places ordnance, does not confer an unanswerable strategic advantage. With Hamas under pressure, the intention is that the rulers of Gaza will agree to a renewed ceasefire less advantageous to themselves."


5. The damage from Israel's ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip


Sara Roy in the latest London Review of Books http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html


"On 5 November the Israeli government sealed all the ways into and out of Gaza. Food, medicine, fuel, parts for water and sanitation systems, fertiliser, plastic sheeting, phones ... are no longer getting through in sufficient quantities or at all.


"According to Oxfam ... in November ... an average of 4.6 [food] trucks per day entered the strip compared to an average of 123 in October ... and 564 in December 2005. [uNRWA, t]he UN Relief and Works Agency ... feeds approximately 750,000 people in Gaza, and requires 15 trucks of food daily to do so. Between 5 and 30 November, only 23 trucks arrived, around 6 per cent of the total needed ...


"The majority of commercial bakeries in Gaza ... have had to close because they have run out of cooking gas. People are using any fuel they can find to cook with. ... Shortages of gas and animal feed have forced commercial [poultry] producers to smother hundreds of thousands of chicks. By April, according to the FAO, there will be no poultry there at all: 70 per cent of Gazans rely on chicken as a major source of protein....


"Banks, suffering from Israeli restrictions on the transfer of banknotes into the territory were forced to close on 4 December. ... UNRWA suspended its cash assistance programme to the most needy. It also ceased production of textbooks because there is no paper, ink or glue in Gaza. This will affect 200,000 students returning to school in the new year. ...


"On 13 November production at Gaza's only power station was suspended and the turbines shut down because it had run out of industrial diesel. ... About a hundred spare parts ordered for the turbines have been sitting in the port of Ashdod in Israel for the last eight months, waiting for the Israeli authorities to let them through customs. Now Israel has started to auction these parts because they have been in customs for more than 45 days....


"By mid-December Gaza City and the north of Gaza had access to water only six hours every three days.


"How can keeping food and medicine from the people of Gaza protect the people of Israel? How can the impoverishment and suffering of Gaza's children – more than 50 per cent of the population – benefit anyone? International law as well as human decency demands their protection."


Chris Hedges, Pulitzer-winning former New York Times reporter, Dec. 15, 2008:


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200812...ainst_humanity/


"Israel's siege [long-term closure] of Gaza, largely unseen by the outside world because of Jerusalem's refusal to allow humanitarian aid workers, reporters and photographers access to Gaza, rivals the most egregious crimes carried out at the height of apartheid by the South African regime. It comes close to the horrors visited on Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs. It has disturbing echoes of the Nazi ghettos of Lodz and Warsaw. ...


"Gaza now spends 12 hours a day without power, which can be a death sentence to the severely ill in hospitals. There are few drugs and little medicine, including no cancer or cystic fibrosis medication. Hospitals have generators but often lack fuel. Medical equipment, including one of Gaza's three CT scanners, has been destroyed by power surges and fluctuations. Medical staff cannot control the temperature of incubators for newborns. And Israel has revoked most exit visas, meaning some of those who need specialized care, including cancer patients and those in need of kidney dialysis, have died. Of the 230 Gazans estimated to have died last year because they were denied proper medical care, several spent their final hours at Israeli crossing points where they were refused entry into Israel. The statistics gathered on children—half of Gaza's population is under the age of 17—are increasingly grim. About 45 percent of children in Gaza have iron deficiency from a lack of fruit and vegetables, and 18 percent have stunted growth..."


Dec. 9, 2008, Statement of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights on Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Richard Falk:


"Israel maintains its Gaza siege in its full fury, allowing only barely enough food and fuel to enter to stave off mass famine and disease. Such a policy of collective punishment, initiated by Israel to punish Gazans for political developments within the Gaza strip, constitutes a continuing flagrant and massive violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.


"... Some governments of the world are complicit by continuing their support politically and economically for Israel's punitive approach. ... 'This is a humanitarian crisis deliberately imposed by political actors.'"


6. Are the Israeli airstrikes a proportionate reaction?


Commentary, "The neighborhood bully strikes again" by Gideon Levy, columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050459.html :


"On July 16, 2006, four days after the start of the Second Lebanon War, I wrote: 'Every neighborhood has one, a loud-mouthed bully who shouldn't be provoked into anger... Not that the bully's not right - someone did harm him. But the reaction, what a reaction!' Two and a half years later, these words repeat themselves, to our horror, with chilling precision. Within the span of a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, the [israeli Defense Forces] sowed death and destruction on a scale that the Qassam rockets never approached in all their years .... Israel's violent responses, even if there is justification for them, exceed all proportion and cross every red line of humaneness, morality, international law and wisdom. ... In its foolishness, Hamas brought this on itself and on its people, but this does not excuse Israel's overreaction."


7. Is it impossible to negotiate with Hamas?


Gideon Levy of Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050459.html :


"Israel did not exhaust the diplomatic processes before embarking yesterday on another dreadful campaign of killing and ruin. The Qassams that rained down on the communities near Gaza turned intolerable, even though they did not sow death. But the response to them needs to be fundamentally different: diplomatic efforts to restore the cease-fire - the same one that was initially breached, one should remember, by Israel when it unnecessarily bombed a tunnel - and then, if those efforts fail,a measured, gradual military response."


Tom Segev, another columnist for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, "Trying to 'teach Hamas a lesson' is fundamentally wrong," Dec. 29, 2008, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050706.html :


"Hamas is not a terrorist organization holding Gaza residents hostage: It is a religious nationalist movement, and a majority of Gaza residents believe in its path. ...


"Most dangerous of all is the cliche that there is no one to talk to. That has never been true. There are even ways to talk with Hamas, and Israel has something to offer the organization. Ending the siege of Gaza and allowing freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank could rehabilitate life in the Strip."


8. Will the airstrikes bring Israel peace?


Jonathan Spyer, the Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...a-hamas-israel1 :


[Maybe, If Israel avoids a protracted ground war, and if Egypt keeps its border with Gaza shut.] "Success in war is partly measured by forcing your enemy to fight the war you want him to fight, rather than the war he wants to fight. ... With Hamas sealed in, the intention is that the rulers of Gaza will be brought to a point of acceding to Israel's terms. This will be achieved, it is hoped, without the need for an all-out invasion of Gaza, although some limited ground action remains a possibility. Seen in larger geopolitical terms, this outcome would represent a significant victory for pro-western states in the region. And a corresponding setback for the regional alliance led by Iran – of which Hamas-controlled Gaza forms a part."


Columnist Gideon Levy of Haaretz, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050459.html :


[No.] "... [W]e are dealing with a wretched, battered strip of land, most of whose population consists of the children of refugees who have endured inhumane tribulations. For two and a half years, they have been caged and ostracized by the whole world. The line of thinking that states that through war we will gain new allies in the Strip; that abusing the population and killing its sons will sear this into their consciousness; and that a military operation would suffice in toppling an entrenched regime and thus replace it with another one friendlier to us is no more than lunacy.


"Hezbollah was not weakened as a result of the Second Lebanon War; to the contrary. Hamas will not be weakened due to the Gaza war; to the contrary. In a short time, after the parade of corpses and wounded ends, we will arrive at a fresh cease-fire, as occurred after Lebanon, exactly like the one that could have been forged without this superfluous war."


Chris Hedges, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200812...ainst_humanity/ :


[No.] "The use of terror and hunger to break a hostile population is one of the oldest forms of warfare. I watched the Bosnian Serbs employ the same tactic in Sarajevo. Those who orchestrate such sieges do not grasp the terrible rage born of long humiliation, indiscriminate violence and abuse. A father or a mother whose child dies because of a lack of vaccines or proper medical care does not forget. A boy whose ill grandmother dies while detained at an Israel checkpoint does not forget. All who endure humiliation, abuse and the murder of family members do not forget. This rage becomes a virus within those who, eventually, stumble out into the daylight. Is it any wonder that 71 percent of children interviewed at a school in Gaza recently said they wanted to be a 'martyr'?"


Tom Segev, Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050706.html :


"Israel is striking at the Palestinians to 'teach them a lesson.' That is a basic assumption that has accompanied the Zionist enterprise since its inception: We are the representatives of progress and enlightenment, sophisticated rationality and morality, while the Arabs are a primitive, violent rabble, ignorant children who must be educated and taught wisdom - via, of course, the carrot-and-stick method, just as the drover does with his donkey.


"The bombing of Gaza is also supposed to 'liquidate the Hamas regime,' in line with another assumption ... that it is possible to impose a 'moderate' leadership on the Palestinians, one that will abandon their national aspirations...


"Israel has also always believed that causing suffering to Palestinian civilians would make them rebel against their national leaders. This assumption has proven wrong over and over. ... [T]he Gaza Strip [has] been subjected to a lengthy siege that destroyed an entire generation's chances of living lives worth living.


"n the Land of Israel, no military operation has ever advanced dialogue with the Palestinians."


9. How can I act?


From Jewish Voices for Peace, http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish...tsoutgaza.shtml :


Donate to the Palestinian Medical Relief Society Clinic.


Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.


Sign a ceasefire petition initiated by Palestinians and Israelis who have jointly demonstrated against the siege of Gaza.


Contact the White House at +1-202-456-1111 or comments@whitehouse.gov. Contact the U.S. State Department at +1-202-647-6575. Contact your representative and senators in Congress at +1-202-224-3121.

. Multi-faith Schools


• A Muslim charity In Swindon is bidding to run the first Multi-faith Muslim School for Muslim and non-Muslim children and have teachers from different faiths. An hour of the timetable each day would be dedicated to studying Arabic and the Holy Quran. Non-Muslims pupils would be able to be exempted from the lessons, but it is hoped that the majority would choose to stay in class to gain more “insight” into the Islamic faith.


• In my opinion, Multifaith school is not going to be successful because non-Muslim parents would not send their children. In the past, a plan for a Multi-faith secondary school in Westminster for 1000 pupils could not be materialised because faith groups could not come to any agreement. Now even Hindu community has set up state funded school in Harrow. Black community is also thinking of setting up its own school with Black teachers.


• According to David Lammy MP, there are still too many inequalities in the education system which prevents disadvantaged children from applying to study for a degree. British schooling is wholly responsible for the inequalities. A culture of low expectation and a lack of rigour holding these pupils back. Every child must reach his full potential regardless of his background. Justice Secretary Jack Straw MP said British society should be one which recognizes and celebrates differences. One in which we all have an opportunity to flourish, regardless of who we are or where we are from. British schooling has been trying to integrate and assimilate Muslim community through education in the name of integration. The Imams and Masajid have been playing their parts to keep Islamic faith alive, but that is not enough. British schooling does not promote global cohesion. It does not encourage dialogue and increases understanding.


• Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. They need to learn and be well versed in Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. They need to learn and be well versed in Arabic to recite and understand the Holy Quran. They need to learn and be well versed in Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.


• Iftikhar Ahmad


www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

Hmm Interesting reading dont you think


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7809371.stm

Quote:Israel has tried to take the initiative in the propaganda war over Gaza but, in one important instance, its version has been seriously challenged.
The incident raises the question of how to interpret video taken from the air.


Israel released video of an air attack on 28 December, which appeared to show rockets being loaded onto a lorry. The truck and those close to it were then destroyed by a missile.


...

(This speech was originally delivered in Durban, South Africa by Rabbi Y D Weiss on December 27, 2008)


May our words be pleasing to the Creator and cause His Great Name to be sanctified.


Ashalom Aleikhum:


The world stands aghast as the atrocities being committed by the Zionist regime in Gaza, becomes known in ever greater and shocking detail.


Mere words are insufficient to express the pain that all mankind feels at the plight of the Gaza and Palestinian people.


For over one hundred years, they have been subject to a carefully conceived plan, to drive them from their homes and their land.


Throughout their history, the Zionists have resorted to intimidation, war, ethnic cleansing and state—sponsored terrorism to achieve their goals.


This is, has been and continues to be, the criminal agenda of the Zionist movement. But among this movement’s greatest crimes, is that it has claimed to carry out these nefarious actions in the name of holiness, in the name of the Almighty, in the name of Judaism and the Jewish people !!


This is a wicked and monstrous lie !!


It is a desecration of our religion !!


Judaism forbids and rejects Zionism and the existence of the State of “Israel”. We have been expressly commanded by the Almighty that we are forbidden to have our own sovereignty in this heavenly decreed exile, we are also forbidden to rebel against any nation. Torah believing Jews, under the leadership of the most esteemed rabbis of the 20th century have always opposed and fought against Zionism and ultimately the State of “Israel”.


Unfortunately in recent years the Zionists have succeed in seducing and co—opting members of the religious community and some rabbis into support of not allowing the return of the rightful owners, the Palestinian people, to their land, by fear mongering, by appealing to their worst fears, that there is a religious conflict and that the Arabs always have had an ingrained hate for the Jews. Especially, they claim, that because of the many years of the existence of the State of “Israel”, if the Palestinians where to return to their land, they would massacre the Jews, may the Almighty protect us.


Anyone familiar with the ploys and techniques of the Zionist State is aware of this fact.


Before the advent of Zionism, Muslims and Christian, Arabs and Jews, lived peacefully together in the Holy Land, as in all the Muslim lands, — Ask your grandparents! — They remember those peaceful days! And in fact it is here the opportune time to thank all the Muslim countries for their extraordinary friendship, hospitality and safe haven that they have provided to the Jewish people throughout the ages!


The Zionists rely on the Bible, the Torah, for their imaginary right to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people and to subjugate them. This is a pathetic joke! The Zionists have always been heretics and rejected all the fundamental tenets of our faith, and yet they have the nerve, the arrogance, the audacity, the chutzpa, to pretend to base their behavior on our holy Torah.


We know what our holy writings and our great rabbis have taught us — that we are forbidden to subjugate or oppress anyone or to desecrate the holiness of the Holy Land with paths of violence, ethnic cleansing, discrimination and military power. Our religion teaches justice. It teaches peace. It teaches compassion. In fact, the greatest and ultimate hope and prayer of the Jewish people is, that when the Messiah comes that then “Nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation, and they will make war no more.” All nations will serve God together in peace.


To the governments of the world, it is not through your support of the Zionist regime — the State of “Israel”, that the Jewish people are being helped! On the contrary, this tragic historical mistake has led to the killing of Arabs and Jews alike. The governments of the great powers, by supporting the State of “Israel” are not only harming the Palestinian people but they are also unwittingly contributing to the growth of hostility towards Jews worldwide!


To our Jewish brethren, we beg! Do not be intimidated by ruthless Zionist bullying and violence!! — Proclaim loudly and clearly your outrage, pain and sympathy for the people of Gaza and that those who show contempt for the Torah, the teachings of our rabbis, and disregard the ethical and moral basics of our faith, have no right to speak on behalf of the Jewish People or Judaism!


We must tell the world that self rule, sovereignty and ALL the rights of the Palestinian people, must be restored throughout historic Palestine! This is a requirement of Jewish ethics and values! Jewish justice demands the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes, towns, villages and cities throughout Palestine! Tell the world, loudly and clearly, that you support Palestinian statehood over the ENTIRE Holy Land —— not despite your Jewish identity, but because of it.


To our Islamic brethren – let us speak up for the people of Gaza and please do not judge the Jewish faith or its people, on the basis of this passing lunacy of Zionism. The Jews have always been your friends and cousins. Do not allow your understandable anger to be directed at those who are innocent of wrongdoing, regardless of whether they reside in Occupied Palestine, Europe, or anywhere around the globe.


Together, people of all nations, may we be worthy, with God’s help, speedily and peacefully, without further suffering and bloodshed of anyone, be it Arab or Jew, to witness the peaceful end of the Zionist occupation over every inch of Palestine.


And may we yet merit to see, in the very near future, the revelation of the One God, over the entire world, with all mankind in His servitude, in joyous brotherhood.


AMEN


Let’s Proclaim Together:


FREE GAZA – FREE PALESTINE


JUDAISM YES ZIONISM NO !


Read more at: http://www.nkusa.org/

An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly and made the world community smile.





The Palestinian Representative's Speech at the UN


'Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath!'


He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.


When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. An Israeli had stolen them.'


The Israeli representative jumped up furiously and shouted, 'What are you talking about? The Israelis weren't there then.'


The Palestinian representative smiled and said:


'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.'


This made me smile , i hope it makes u smile as well :D

If you have managed to catch Sayyed Hassan Nasrallahs last two speeches there is an emphatic plea to Egypt to open the Rafah crossing to let aid supplies and arms into Gaza. Why wont the Egyptians oblige?


Also exactly what is Egypt Foreign Ministers problem? Mr. Aboul Gheit blames Hamas?!?!?!?

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,1214216.story


Missiles target tunnels to Egypt that serve as region's lifeline.


By Ashraf Khalil and Rushdi abu Alouf


12:34 PM PST, December 28, 2008


REPORTING FROM GAZA CITY AND JERUSALEM -- Israeli warplanes expanded their assault on the Gaza Strip today, launching missile strikes on the network of cross-border tunnels to Egypt that serve as a vital lifeline for the besieged coastal enclave.


Israeli tanks massed along the Gaza border as the Jewish state called up more than 6,000 army reservists in possible preparation for a land assault against the Hamas movement, which controls the strip.


As darkness fell over Gaza this evening, the situation on the territory's southern border with Egypt was chaotic and fluid. Egyptian border police traded sporadic gunfire with Gazan militants amid reports that a large group had tried to breach the border fence that Egypt has kept sealed for more than a year.


"About 100-150 Palestinians jumped over the border fence to the Egyptian side," said Gaza resident Ahmed Radwan, speaking on the phone from the town of Rafah. "They are about 300 meters into the Egyptian side but have been prevented by Egyptian forces from going any further."


Fighters from Gaza's various militant factions launched at least 30 rockets toward southern Israel, according to the Israeli army. That number was less than half the size of the barrage launched on Saturday, when Israel began its aerial assault with strikes targeting police stations and security compounds throughout Gaza.


Army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi reportedly told the Cabinet today that 50% of Hamas' rocket-launching capabilities had been destroyed.


However, two of the Gazan rockets reached deeper into Israel than than most previous strikes, landing near the coastal city of Ashdod, 23 miles north of Gaza.


No serious injuries were reported, but the expansion of the rockets' range seemed to confirm Israeli concerns that the militant group Hamas was developing the ability to target some of the Israel's largest cities.


The two-day death toll climbed past to 292, with Gazan medical officials charging that one-third of the victims were civilians, a statement that could not be confirmed. An estimated 900 people had been injured.


The bloodshed, presented in grisly detail by Arab satellite television, has roiled the Arab world and incensed Palestinians both in the occupied West Bank and inside Israel.


Shopowners in the West Bank and in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem shut their doors in a near-total protest strike. Two Palestinians were killed Sunday in separate clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.


ashraf.khalil@latimes.com


Abu Alouf is a special correspondent.

The United States and Brittan have similar methods of slaughter


Question:



I am presently residing in Canada. I have learned that in this country, in the province that I live in (ontario), the animals for beef etc..are killed then slaughtered.


So this will defeat the purpose of any muslim eating this meat. Since, the animal is dead before it is slaughtered. Some say we can eat the meat in Canada becaue these pple here are ahlul kitab. So, my question is when invited and eating at a muslim family's home who believes that they can go to the local supper market and buy the meat and eat from it. And insist the meat is halal to be eaten....what must I do? Should I just eat the meat even though I know they buy from the local supper market? I have tried telling them in a nice manner, directly, but they insist that the meat is halal. I am a new muslim and they have been very supportive in my hard times.


I do not want to just snob them or not visit them due to my fears. What is my obligation and can I eat the meat??? Please help, most lecturers and scholars that come here, keep insisting that the question has been answered and never answer it for us new muslim. And I have done my research as far as what I can do and not do and I am really not sure on this


Answer:


Praise be to Allaah.


Beef that has been killed before being slaughtered (i.e., before its neck is cut in the halaal method) is considered to be maytah (“dead meat”) and it is not permissible to eat it, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):


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“He has forbidden you only Al Maitah (meat of a dead animal), blood, the flesh of swine, and any animal which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for others than Allaah (or has been slaughtered for idols or on which Allaah’s Name has not been mentioned while slaughtering). But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, and not transgressing, then, Allaah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful


[al-Nahl 16:115]


With regard to what you mention about some Muslims eat meating that has been killed before being slaughtered, it may be that they are sure that the meat that they are eating has been slaughtered according to sharee’ah, or it may be that they are ignorant of the rulings on this kind of meat, or they may have asked (scholars) who told them that this meat is halaal.


Whatever the case, you have to avoid eating these meats, and if anyone asks you to eat it, you should refuse to do so, and explain why you are refusing – so that they will follow that or at least excuse you for not eating it.


With regard to what you mention about some people saying that it is permissible to eat this meat because they are the People of the Book, the answer is that it is permissible to eat meat that has been slaughtered by the People of the Book, but this meat that you describe is not meat that has been slaughtered by them; rather it is dead meat, and it is not permissible to eat dead meat even if it was killed by a Muslim.


Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:


“Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):


<b>‘Made lawful to you this day are At Tayyibaat [all kinds of Halaal (lawful) foods, which Allaah has made lawful (meat of slaughtered eatable animals, milk products, fats, vegetables and fruits)]. The food (slaughtered cattle, eatable animals) of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them’</b>


[al-Maa’idah 5:5]


This aayah makes it clear to us that the food of the People of the Book – i.e., the Jews and Christians – is permissible for us, but if we know that they have slaughtered a permissible animal in a manner other than that prescribed in sharee’ah, such as killing it by strangulation, electric shock, hitting it on the head, etc., then it is meat “which has been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow” (cf. al-Maa'idah 5:3), so it is haraam, just as meat which has been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow by a Muslim is also forbidden to us. But if we do not know what is the case, then the meat slaughtered by them is halaal for us, in accordance with the aayah.”


(Majallat al-Jaami’ah al-Islamiyyah, no. 3, p. 156


In conclusion, we hope that you will spread the fatwa of Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz to the Muslims whom you know, as much as you can. And Allaah knows best.


Islam Q&A


Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

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