MAS Freedom Newsletter


In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful


September 14, 2007


Only 1 Day!


Until the Sept. 15 March on Washington


to End the War in Iraq


CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS! WE NEED YOU!


MAS Freedom will be holding a Peace Iftar in Lafayette Park (in front of the White House)


after the Sept. 15 Rally.


Sign up to join us in distributing food or sponsor


the homeless at home and abroad


by making a contribution today!


Details Below!


Anyone Can Be A Part of the September 15 March on Washington to End the War in Iraq!


From Washington, D.C. or Your Own Home!


Here's How You Can Help!


· Make a generous donation today made payable to "MAS Freedom" in support of the September 15 March on Washington and Peace Iftar.


Mail Your Contribution Today!


MAS Freedom


3606 Forest Drive


Alexandria, VA 22302


The Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said (in part),


"One who helps a fellow Muslim in removing his (or her) difficulty in this world,


Allah will remove the formers distress on the Day of Judgment.


He who helps to remove the hardship of another,


will have his difficulties removed by Allah in this world and in the Hereafter.


Allah continues to help a servant so long as he goes on helping his own brother (or sister)."


(Muslim)


· Download, print and distribute posters!


Poster 1 - Poster 2 - Poster 3


· Check out the logistical and transportation information can be found here:


Logistics - Transportation


· Forward this announcement to your friends and associates.


· Sign up as a volunteer! Contact MAS Freedom toll free by dialing 1-888-627-8471 or send an email to: mas4freedom@aol.com


RELATED:


Ramadan Reflections on Islam and World Hunger


MAS Freedom and Antiwar Leaders Hold Press Conference to Announce Plans for Sept. 15 Mass March and Die-In


Flash Message on MAS Website


Partial List of Sponsors


Rally to Conclude with Ramadan Iftar (Breaking of the Fast)


Sept. 15 Also Anniversary of Sabra and Shatila Massacre


MAS Freedom National, MAS Freedom-NC, and MAS Freedom-Iowa Need YOU!


Recruiting Volunteers and Interns - Join MAS Freedom Today!


MAS Freedom National, MAS Freedom-NC, and MAS Freedom Iowa are actively recruiting volunteers and interns in the following areas:


Research


Direct Action Campaigns


Human and Civil Rights


Civic and Political Empowerment


Planning Community Events


Legal Assistance


Office Administration


Congressional Liaison


Community Outreach


Youth Services


Tarbiyah


Flexible Schedule -College Students Welcome!

Salam all


this is a ramadhan checklist


Its good to use, especially children as they can tick of their good deeds they done on each day of ramadhan.


Well people of all ages can use it,




<a class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image" href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/post-78-1189692089.jpg">[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/post-78-1189692089_thumb.jpg[/img]</a>

Attached Files

  ramadhan_checklist.JPG (Size: 170.7 KB / Downloads: 93)

Salam


This is really good to read.

Ramadhaan_Course_Pack.pdf

Attached Files

  Ramadhaan_Course_Pack.pdf (Size: 459.88 KB / Downloads: 141)

Bismillah: Assalamo Alikum.


***********************


August 26, 2007 12:05am


Book of Mother Teresa's letters out soon


Felt "longing for God, repulsed, no faith"


Yet to be canonised by the Vatican


MOTHER Teresa experienced "emptiness" like any human, and the revealing letters she shared with her colleagues portrayed her humility, said the Archbishop of Kolkata, where the nun lived most of her life.


A book of letters written by Mother Teresa of Calcutta - now Kolkata - has revealed that she was deeply tormented about her faith and suffered periods of doubt about God.


“Despite facing the negative side of life, she remained steadfast on her way to holiness, such was her greatness,” Reverend Lucas Sircar, who knew her for decades, told Reuters.


Due out on September 4, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, is a collection of letters written to colleagues and superiors over 66 years and complied by an advocate for her sainthood.


In 1956, in one of her letters, she wrote: “Such deep longing for God - and ... repulsed - empty - no faith - no love - no zeal.”


Those in Kolkata who were close to the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner said she had overcome “emptiness” and “doubts”, and continued to spread the message of God and love to the poor and ailing until her death in 1997, aged 87.


“Every person at one point in life feels some sort of emptiness, darkness or hollowness, which is the darker side of that person,” Rev Sircar said.


“In spite of all temptations, she overcame them, and it was her humility that she shared her weaker side with others in her letters.”


The ethnic Albanian Roman Catholic nun dedicated her life to serving the sick, poor and dying in India, particularly in Kolkata, headquarters of the global Missionaries of Charity order she founded in 1950.


Mother Teresa was beatified in 2003 but not yet been canonised by the Vatican.


The archbishop said saints like Saint Paul of the Cross or Saint Augustine had experienced “similar trials” and “hollowness” in their lives like Mother Teresa.


The Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata declined to comment on the letters or on Mother Teresa's faith.


Recalling the nun's last days, her physician Tarun Kumar Praharaj said she told him that she saw God everywhere.


“She would always ask me to help the poor and said she was fine, when she was not, and wanted to help a sick child even from her hospital bed,” Dr Praharaj, a cardiologist, said.


Sunita Kumar, a social activist who knew Mother Teresa for many years, said the nun had tremendous faith in God and that her letters revealed only her “natural self.”


“After all, Mother Teresa was like any other human who in crisis wishes to see God,” Dr Praharaj said.


http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,223...om=mostpop

Bismillah: Assalamo Alikum.


Please follow this link and see for yourself about this painful deception called 9-11.


Painful deception


<b>Blame the Muslims no more because 9/11 was an INSIDE JOB.
</b>


Salam


Wael.

Bismillah: Assalamo Alikum.


Before I dwell into the subject, I would like to apologize in advance if this article might hurt any Christian friend, this is my observation of the Christian Bible, and so you may take it and come to Islam in which you will find peace and comfort insh a Allah, or you may ignore it and be our friends as you are now. But for those who could easily get emotional when talking about religions, <b>then you may not read it at all</b> to avoid any tension.


The topic is about the only prophecy that was given to the Jews by Jesus pbuh himself to prove that he was the Messiah, I am not talking about the one thousands+ prophecies of the Old Testaments that Christians are always talking about, I am only examining <b>the only claim that was made by Jesus pbuh himself to prove to the Jews that he was the appointed Christ pbuh</b>, but let us see if that prophecy was fulfilled or not.


We are told in the Gospel of Mathew, that some learned Jewish people approached Jesus pbuh asking him <b>"Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
</b> Matthew 12:38 and then he answered them very strongly saying: <b>"A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
</b> Matthew 12:39-40


Please note that the <b>ONLY SIGN </b> he gave to the Jews was the sign of the prophet Jonah, he didn't mention about any other miracle that he performed in front of their very eyes, <b>NO SIGN BUT ONE</b>, and that is the sign of Jonah, he is actually claiming to be the Messiah, <b>and the only sign that would prove him right and true, is the sign of Jonah.</b>


Now there are two questions to be asked:


<b>1- Did Jesus really fulfill that prophecy? </b>


2- What was exactly that sign of Jonah pbuh that Jesus pbuh is talking about?


To answer the first question, we have to know exactly what was that sign or miracle of prophet Jonah, and to get the correct answer <b>you have to open the Bible and read the book of Jonah</b> ( <i>the book of Jonah in the Bible is only one page</i>)… after reading, we can summarize the story of Jonah as follows:


1- God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn their people to repent from their evil ways.


2- Jonah, instead of going to Nineveh he goes to Joppa, and took a boat to escape from God's command.


3- When he was in his boat, the boat was affected by terrible storm, and back then, they believed that anyone who runs away from his master's command, causes turbulence at the sea.


4- They started to cast lots to see who was responsible for causing this evil upon them, so the lot fell on Jonah.


5- After that, Jonah <b>voluntarily</b>, asked them to throw him in the sea because he was the person that disobeyed God's command, and so they throw him into the sea.


6- A huge whale in the middle of the ocean came and swallows Jonah.


7- <b>For three days and three nights</b>, Jonah was in the belly of the whale praying to God to remove his difficulty.


8- After three days and three nights, the whale vomits Jonah on the seashore.


<b>Now please pay attention and try to answer those questions by yourself. </b>


- When Jonah was thrown from the boat into the sea, was he <b>dead or alive</b>?


Answer: -----------



- when the fish swallow Jonah, was he <b>dead or alive</b>?


Answer: -----------



- When he was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights praying, was he <b>dead or alive? </b>


Answer: ------------



- When the whale vomits him on the seashore, was he <b>dead or alive</b>?


Answer: -------------



If you answer to the above questions was <b>ALIVE</b>, then you have certainly understood the <b>miracle/sign of the prophet Jonah that Jesus pbuh was talking about.</b>


Now, if Jonah was alive in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, then <b>according to Jesus, he must have been alive too in his tomb for three days and three nights</b>, otherwise, why he had to say <b>FOR AS JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS, SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS</b>. But when you ask Christians, was Jesus dead or alive in his tomb, you will find 100% of them saying that he was dead. <b>Jesus plainly saying that what happened to Jonah is going to happen to me</b>, but Christians promote the exact opposite of what their master have said about himself.


But to solve this problem, some Christians have come up with another explanation, saying that Jesus actually was talking about the<b> time period of staying in the tomb</b>, and NOT about being dead or alive. I am asking now, <b>what is so miraculous about timing?</b> The miracle of Jonah actually is considered to be the mightiest miracle of the Bible, a person who had to die 3 times over, was found at the end alive (<b>when he was thrown into the sea</b>), alive (<b>when he was eaten by the whale</b>) alive (<b>for three days and three nights in the belly of the whale</b>), AND alive (<b>when the whale vomits him after three days and three nights</b>) . but Christians said Jesus was <b>dead, dead, dead</b>.


But anyway, let us examine further, whether Jesus pbuh fulfill the prophecy of <b>timing</b> as explained by some Chrsitians.


Ask any Christian, when was Jesus crucified, and almost all of them will say <b>ON FRIDAY</b> (<i>and that's why they call it good Friday</i>). According to Christians, he was killed on Friday, but before killing him, they torture him badly, they made him carry the huge cross and walk from Pilate to Herod, and then back to Pilate, so by the time they hang him on the cross it was little late, but they also wanted to bring him down quickly on the same day (Friday) and before sunset because of the Sabbath, because they were warned in the OT that the victim of crucifixion is not permitted to remain on the cross on the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 21:23). After that, late on Friday, the disciples of Jesus took his body down from the Cross, gave him the burial bath and send him to his tomb <b>before night fall.</b>


So the first time Jesus entered his tomb was <b>FRIDAY NIGHT</b>.


<b>Now please count with me how many days and night did Jesus stay in his tomb and figure out by yourself whether he fulfill his own prophecy or not</b>


(FOR AS JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS, SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH
)


<b>FRIDAY NIGHT</b> he entered his grave (ONE NIGHT
)


<b>SATARDAY DAY</b> he is still in his grave (ONE DAY
)


<b>SATARDAY NIGHT</b> he is still in his grave (ANOTHER NIGHT
)


<b>SUNDAY MORNING</b>, the first day of the week and before sunrise, (Mary Magdalene went to his tomb but found it EMPTY
)


Now I am asking, <b>how many days and how many nights did he stay in the tomb?</b>


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



RIGHT… they are only <b>TWO NIGHTS and A DAY</b>. but what the prophecy says? THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS.


Now I am asking another simple question, <b>are 3 and 3 is same as 2 and 1?</b> Of course there is something wrong here and every Christian should re arrange his thoughts and figure out what went wrong with their scriptures.


It is either Jesus was lying or fooling the Jews by the words he uttered (<b>we Muslims don't believe that he is a lair</b>), or that the books that you are reading have got <b>serious problem</b>.


We ask Allah, the Almighty God to accept our good deeds and intentions for writing this article, and forgive us if any of what we have said was wrong. Ameen.


Salam


Wael.

(TAMPA, FL, 9/4/07) - On Wednesday, September 5, the Tampa office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Tampa) will hold a news conference with a Lakeland Muslim mother whose seven children, all American citizens, are trapped in the occupied West Bank by Israeli authorities.


WHAT: Lakeland Mother Appeals for Safe Return of Her Children


WHEN: Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 1 p.m.


WHERE: CAIR-Tampa Office, 8056 N. 56th Street, Tampa, FL


CONTACT: CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier, 813-731-9506, E-Mail: abedier@cair.com


The Muslim mother says she and her children were visiting the West Bank during the summer break. When the family attempted to return through Tel Aviv airport on their scheduled flight, Israeli authorities denied travel to the seven young people, ages 7 to 22. The mother was allegedly told that, despite her children's U.S. citizenship, they could not travel through the Israeli airport because they are of Palestinian heritage.


CAIR recently assisted members of two other Muslim families from Arizona and Tennessee who were blocked by Israel from leaving the Gaza Strip.


CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

CAIRO — Denied access to work in Israel and access to millions donated to the Palestinian Authority, many Palestinians are now eking out a living from the garage of Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.


"Sad to say, but our life is the garbage. Our future is the garbage," Mohammad Al-Ammour, 42, told The New York Times on Sunday, September 2.


He used to work in Israel as a painter, making 35-50 dollars a day.


Like many other Palestinians who found themselves jobless due to Israeli closures, Ammour sought a living from a dump set in the dusty hills in the village of Ad Deirat.


The dump is used both Palestinians and Israeli settlers.


Working with two of his eight children, they bring home around 12 dollars.


"If we don’t work, we can’t live," said Ammour, whose home has two rooms for the family of 10 and no windows, just holes in the walls covered with yellow fabric that does little to block the sun.


"No one from the (Palestinian) Authority comes to check on us; no one really cares," he said.


"The Palestinian nation gets aid and help from abroad, but we never see any."


Rabah Rabai, a 48-year-old who used to work in Israel as a builder making more than 650 dollars a month, comes every morning before dawn with three children from a village eight miles away.


He makes a living from driving an old tractor pulling a small cart full of salvaged garbage.


"It’s our taxi," he said. "It’s our Jaguar."


<b>Settler Garbage</b>


The dump has become the official workplace of many Palestinian younger than 16.


Most of them walk long miles and sleep in makeshift shacks or blanket tents in the dump, before returning homes for the weekend.


Their hands, arms and legs are scarred from sharp metal and broken glass.


"It’s a very difficult life," said Mohammad Rabai, a 23-year-old municipal bulldozer driver.


He and three relatives also salvage trash, trying to feed a family of 25.


Wearing a salvaged camouflage pants and a dirty baseball cap, Rabai denied being the unacknowledged boss of the dump.


"We try to be friends here; we try to be equals."


The young scavengers search the settler trash for such "valuables" as a piece of metal, a crushed can, a soda bottle or a stinking T-shirt.


They can make about 5 dollars each a day.


Mahmoud Ibrahim, 10, found a pair of angel’s wings, apparently from a costume party or a ballet performance. He wore them upside down.


His brother, Mohammad, 11, happened on a discarded suit, several sizes too large.


Youssef Rabai, 18, found a bright orange ribbon, the symbol of settler opposition to the Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip.


The political implication of the ribbon means absolutely nothing to him.


"I’m a settler here."


The UN warned in a report released on August 30 that unless Israel dismantles its illegal West Bank settlements "the dismal humanitarian outlook" for the territory's 2.3 million Palestinians "will intensify."


The report, by some of the UN's top Middle East experts, said the steady growth of Israeli settlements is undermining the prospects for peace and making a two-state solution "elusive."

Bismillah: Assalamo Alikum.


***********************


<b>London imam seriously injured in brutal attack</b>


One of the imams of the London’s Central Mosque is in serious condition in hospital following a brutal attack by a white man of Irish origin, the Muslim News has exclusively learnt.


A police spokesman told The Muslim News that a 40-year old man had been arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm and assault. The spokesman said that he was not charged with a racially aggravated offence, but the Director General of the mosque, Dr Ahmad Al-Dubayan, suspected that the attack was religiously motivated in the current atmosphere of growing hostility against Muslims.


He accused the media of creating “an atmosphere of Islamophobia” that led to this and other attacks on mosques.


The Muslim Council of Britain also said it is the latest example in a string of anti-Islamic crimes in Britain. "There is clearly a growing anti-Muslim climate in this country and it has some very worrying implications for all of us,” an MCB spokesman warned.


Dr Al-Dubayan said that the 58-year old imam, who did not want to be named, was attacked on Friday morning after the man, who was wearing a cross, entered the mosque claiming that he wanted to be converted to Islam. The imam offered him dates and explained to him about Islam and suddenly the man threw himself on the ground and began saying something the imam did not understand. Then he suddenly got up and began punching the imam on his forehead until the imam fell on the floor. The man then stood on top of the imam and began poking into the eyes of the imam with his fingers, damaging them badly. The imam tried to defend himself but could not free himself. The imam began shouting and the security came and called the police. The man was apprehended after much difficulty as he resisted the arrest.


The violent assault comes after an increase in attacks against Muslims and mosques since the recent failed car bombings in London and at Glasgow airport.


The Muslim News editor Ahmed Versi called on the Government and the police to ensure that Muslims and their places of worship are protected in the current hostile climate. “Such Islamophobic attacks should not be tolerated. There are causing further alienation in the community and add to the dangers of radicalizing young people.” Versi warned.


For further information contact us on 020 7608 2822 or 077 68 241 325. Please acknowledge The Muslim News when using the press release


the MuslimNews.co.UK

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/932...69E488AB4E8.htm


Gul has laughed off suggestions that he harbours a secret Islamist agenda [AFP]


Abdullah Gul, the current foreign minister, has been formally sworn in as Turkey's president.


He is the first former Islamist to win the post in Turkey's modern history.


In contrast to past inaugurations, army chiefs, some of the secular establishment and the main opposition Republican People's party stayed away from the ceremony on Tuesday.


Gul's wife, who wears a headscarf, which is banned in the country's public institutions, also stayed away.


Political analysts said that Gul faces an important test in allaying fears that his term will raise the role of religion in public life.


Parliament began voting at 3pm (1200 GMT), and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which holds 341 seats in the 550-member parliament, had no trouble in installing Gul, 56, as president.


The AKP only needed an absolute majority to secure the post. In the previous two rounds in the chamber, they failed because a two-thirds majority was required.


Two other candidates also stood for president.


'Fear-mongering'


General Yasar Buyukanit, Turkey's armed forces chief, said on Monday he saw "centres of evil" seeking to undermine the secular republic, a statement suggesting the army would not stand on the sidelines if it saw the separation between mosque and state threatened.


Special report


A series of reports on Turkey's political landscape


"The Turkish armed forces will not make any concessions ... in its duty of guarding the Turkish Republic, a secular and social state based on the rule of law," he said in a written message.


Barnaby Phillips, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Ankara, said: "The army sees itself as the guardian of the secular constitution [but] Gul laughs off suggestions that he harbours a secret Islamist agenda."


The Milliyet newspaper said: "Gul's election will be a turning point in our political history that could draw us one step closer to democratic maturity."


Liberals dismiss concerns over the secular system - a defining feature of the Turkish republic - as "fear-mongering" undertaken by political rivals unable to match the AKP's rising popularity.


From Gul's first speech as president


"Secularism - one of the main principles of our republic - is a pre-condition for social peace as much as it is a liberating model for different lifestyles.


"As long as I am in office, I will embrace all our citizens without any bias. I will preserve my impartiality with the greatest of care."


They see Gul's presidency as symbolic of the rise of the conservative and impoverished masses who form the backbone of the AKP - people who have long been kept at the margins of politics by the army-backed secularist elite, critics argue.


Turkey's popular Vatan newspaper said: "Gul will not have an easy start. His every step ... will be under scrutiny by institutions and sections of society who are sensitive on secularism.


"Gul will neeed to be careful and make efforts to calm them."


'Secret agenda'


The headscarf debate has


beleaguered Gul [AFP]





When Gul first stood for the presidency in April, the opposition blocked his election by boycotting parliament, while the army, which has ousted four governments since 1960, warned the government that it was "ready to defend" the secular order.


The crisis forced Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, to call early general elections on July 22, from which the AKP emerged with a huge victory, hailing it as popular support to re-nominate Gul.


Opponents charge that the AKP has a secret agenda to replace Turkey's secular order with a regime more akin to an an Islamic republic.


Uncompromising secularists are also irritated by the fact that Gul's wife wears the Islamic headscarf, which they see as a symbol of defiance of the secular system.


But a survey published in Milliyet on Tuesday showed that the majority of Turks - 72.6 per cent - have no objections to a first lady with a headscarf, while 19.8 per cent said they would be annoyed if she covers up.