Message from the Muslim Community of September 14, 2001
abujamal
My brother went yesterday -- Friday -- at noon -- to 1,000 people in
the United Methodist Church ... and on live television and radio ... to
say ...
Message from the Muslim Community of September 14, 2001
[Prayer recited in Arabic, followed by excerpts below from the Islamic
funeral prayer:]
"Merciful God, our brothers and sisters in the World Trade Center, in
the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, are now in your care.
"Please protect them from the trials of the grave and the torment of the
fire. Indeed, you are faithful and truthful.
"Forgive them and have mercy upon them. Excuse them and pardon them,
and give them an honorable reception. Cleanse them with water, snow and
ice.
"Purify them from sin, as clean white robes. And comfort their
families. Exchange their home for a better home and admit them into
your garden."
Merciful God, we thank you for your bounties and we ask you for help to
pass our tests.
People of [this place], thank you for your outpouring of support. I am
an immigrant. Your love taught me what it means to be an American.
Abraham Lincoln, your assassin failed. Slavery is dead.
Martin Luther King, Jr., your assassins failed. Your dream is coming
true.
John F. Kennedy, your assassins failed. Your death did not make us
warmongers and haters, it made us love each other and other nations and
cultures. The Berlin wall has come down, and we are now all Berliners.
Robert Kennedy, your assassin failed. Civil liberties were enforced.
Malcolm X, your assassins failed. All African-American Muslims,
including Louis Farrakhan, have abandoned racism and rejoined mainstream
Muslims.
John Lennon, your assassin failed. We can now imagine ... We love each
other as if there are no countries, and no religion, too, and yes, all
we need is love.
Anwar Sadat, your assassins failed. Egypt and Israel are at peace.
Yitzhak Rabin, your assassins failed. Israelis and Palestinians are
determined to make peace.
Brothers and sisters in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, your
assassins failed. We will not make war for your sake, but we will make
peace. We will not hate each other for your sake. We will love each
other more than before. Your death will not create ignorance and
prejudice, but enlightenment and unity.
Thomas Jefferson, you respected Islam and knew it well. You wrote
privately to John Adams "Some hundreds of millions of Muslims
(Mussulmans) expect another prophet more powerful than Muhammad
(Mahomet), who is to spread Islam(ism) over the whole earth." -- Thomas
Jefferson to John Adams, 1821. You asked your friends to include Islam
as a protected religion.
Our founding fathers knew and respected Islam, but only whispered about
it to one another because of the prejudice in the old world.
America's principles are in the spirit of the Torah and the Gospel, and
the Quran has the blueprint for our democracy and our strength.
"If you fight to protect each other's monasteries, churches, synagogues
and mosques, then I shall make you victorious and give you power."
Quran 22:40
America, in the Arabic language, means "the country in charge."
President Clinton, you taught America and the world that Islam is not
the enemy. We have not forgotten.
The terrorists want America to declare war on Islam. They think they
are the "martyrs," dying for a just cause. They are wrong. They don't
understand their religion. In Islam, a martyr is one who dies as a
witness against evil or a witness for goodness. They were not the
martyrs.
The martyrs are their victims, our brothers and sisters in the airplanes
and the towers and the Pentagon. They are witnesses against the utmost
evil that the terrorists did. They are witnesses over an America that
will become better than ever for their sake.
President Bush, instead of declaring war on Muslim countries, let's just
punish the guilty. Let's instead finally accept that Islam is part of
our spiritual heritage and part of the foundation of our way of life.
Let's instead create world peace and end the war between cultures and
religions that is based on myth and prejudice.
Muslims all over the world, America is not the enemy of Islam. America
is the best Islamic state on earth. Americans, open your eyes. Islam
is not America's enemy. Islam is our way of life.
---
*"... they meant to comprehend within the mantle of its protection the
Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo and infidel
of every denomination." -- Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821. ME
1:67
========
Which I could not have written, myself. They stood up in church and
gave him a standing ovation, and about a hundred went to form a cordon
around the mosque to protect the muslims at prayer.
was-salaam,
abujamal
Brandon J. Van Every
news:tqa1ct1...@corp.supernews.com...
>
> The martyrs are their victims, our brothers and sisters in the airplanes
> and the towers and the Pentagon. They are witnesses against the utmost
> evil that the terrorists did. They are witnesses over an America that
> will become better than ever for their sake.
It gives me great comfort to hear this. Not because I expected it to be
thought otherwise, just to hear it said. If the Islamic community in the
USA can somehow make this judgement official - I don't know, do you canonize
your martyrs the way Catholics do or something? - it would go a long way
towards making Americans realize that it not even Islam that is responsible
for these attacks. America should understand that Islam damns these attacks
under its own beliefs and laws, and this would be the clearest way to tell
everyone.
--
Cheers, www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every Seattle, WA
We want the perpetrators. Anyone who stands in our way, dies.
No matter how few, or how many. If it is 20, it is 20.
If it is 100,000, it is 100,000.
Nige White
> President Bush, instead of declaring war on Muslim countries, let's just
> punish the guilty.
Nice sentiments. I am from what Americans would call a "liberal"
background, I have always voted for the left-wing labour party. (well,
they used to be!) but this just won't wash.
NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING
N. O. T. H. I. N. G.
will satisfy these people. They call any law "false, man-made laws",
anyone arrested is immediately declared innocent, and revenge is
called for:
See: http://www.geocities.com/khilafah_movement/press.html
Some choice quotes:
QUOTE
Secular notions of human rights are too morally ambivalent and
intellectually insecure to make a stand against the violation of human
life ; it is only Islam that can give dignity , security and protect
the interests of the Muslim ummah by demanding an unrelenting Jihad
against the forces of oppression and by establishing the sovereignty
of divine guidance on earth. Muslims must therefore be weary that the
real path for them is to support the global Islamic movement that
relies only on divine guidance and not become enthused by people whose
real interests do not lie with Islam and the Muslims
ENDQUOTE
QUOTE
O Muslims! It is obligatory (fard) upon you to engage in the struggle
to remove all Kufr regimes and to establish the Islamic world order.
ENDQUOTE
QUOTE
The Case of the so-called "Britons" on trial:
Regarding the Muslims who are on trial in Yemen, ignoring the fact
that all of them deny the charges and never committed any crime, let
us assume for argument's sake that those Muslims were caught with
weapons. What is wrong with that Islamically, it is not a crime to
carry weapons. For the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "The weapon is
the decoration of a Muslim" So where is the crime?
Let us assume that they were carrying maps or plans to attack
occupying forces, e.g. British or American forces in the gulf who are
responsible for killing Muslims in Iraq and supporting the Pirate
state of Israel militarily. God said: "Fight those who fight you" [EMQ
2:190]. So where is the crime here?
ENDQUOTE
And on and on, endless, self-justifying hate-filled rhetoric.
It's also at http://www.almuhajiroun.com/
It looks like western liberalism and tolerance will have to end. I
mean I am aghast at this. I am not a racist, for God's sake, my wife
is black, therefore half my family is black. I am a secular left-wing
liberal, but you have to take sides sometimes. If they want world
islam, I know which side I am on!
Hey, I remember as a schooolboy rooting for the student's uprising in
Iran and overthrowing the western-supported shah. The idealism of
youth. Well, I've lost it this week.
Mohammad R. Khan
As salaamu alaykum wah rahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
abujamal <mus...@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<tqa1ct1...@corp.supernews.com>...
> as-salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu!
>
Walaykum as salaam,
Brother, Jazakallah, thank you very much for that post, Alhamdollilah!
If there is a news report related to this article, I would be most
interested in a weblink.
Salaam,
Imran Razi
>
> Hey, I remember as a schooolboy rooting for the student's uprising in
> Iran and overthrowing the western-supported shah. The idealism of
> youth. Well, I've lost it this week.
Less than twenty crazies shouldn't make you give up your idealism. I
say, stay committed to justice and do not swerve even in the heat of
your emotions. But also remember that the Muslim world has been the
victim of Western injustice for a long time, so please try to have a
little sympathy for your fellow human beings.
The vast majority of Muslims do not believe in coerced religion or
government. They want freedom in both these areas.
Let us join together in the pursuit of justice - for everyone - and
rise above our tribalisms. 5000 innocent people lost their lives last
week, but over 1,000,000 innocent people have lost their lives in Iraq
alone, including over 500,000 little children. Does their being born
in Iraq make them any less human, any less deserving of your sympathy,
concern and outrage?
If it does, then that right there is the reason why humankind is
descending into savagery - your attitude is the cause of the problem.
If it does not, then maybe there's hope for all of us.
Racism and excessive nationalism/tribalism/culturism is the problem,
and equal respect is the solution. It's not a religious issue at all.
Oh, and by the way, the shah's regime was one of the most oppressive
ever seen. The shah's secret police committed unspeakable acts on the
innocent on a massive scale. The Islamic government, despite its many,
many faults and problems, is far more just than what preceded it. You
were right to support it then, and you would be right to support it
now, whatever your beliefs about Islam.
Peace to you my friend,
Imran Razi
Robert Eaglestone
> QUOTE
> Secular notions of human rights are too morally ambivalent and
> intellectually insecure to make a stand against the violation of human
> life [...]
>
> QUOTE
> O Muslims! It is obligatory (fard) upon you to engage in the struggle
> to remove all Kufr regimes and to establish the Islamic world order.
> ENDQUOTE
Goodness gracious. Are these statements normative to Islam? If
they are, I can see no common ground for us, and I forsee large
problems in the future. How can the Muslims in the United States
live here when our legal system is built on these "secular human rights"?
Does this imply that virtues such as justice, prudence, temperance,
and fortitude, are more perfect in Islam than in the world? Rather,
it seems to imply that such virtues are so nearly absent in the non-
Islamic world that they need Islamic rule to be truly civilized.
I'm sure I'm misinterpreting all this. Right?
I recall that many civilizations said the same thing about their culture.
Japan did. Rome did. Doesn't the English word "barbarian" stem
from the fact that foreigners simply didn't speak the lingua franca?
-Rob
Catherine Hampton
wrote:
>abujamal <mus...@earthlink.net> wrote in message news:<tqa1ct1...@corp.supernews.com>...
>
>> President Bush, instead of declaring war on Muslim countries, let's just
>> punish the guilty.
>Nice sentiments. I am from what Americans would call a "liberal"
>background, I have always voted for the left-wing labour party. (well,
>they used to be!) but this just won't wash.
>
>NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING
>
>N. O. T. H. I. N. G.
>
>will satisfy these people.
Which people, Nigel? Muslims, or terrorists? They aren't the same
group, you know. Most Muslims are not terrorists or supporters of
terrorists, and many terrorists aren't Muslim even in name.
I got a reminder of that second fact a couple of weeks before the WTC
and Pentagon atrocities. A violent white supremacist group, the
National Alliance, placarded my neighborhood with posters designed to
look like missing child posters. The posters came in two varieties.
Each had a picture of a cute, sad looking blonde, blue-eyed little
girl. One poster read, "Missing -- a future for white children." The
second read, "Daddy, what did you do during the revolution?"
Yep, incitement of racial hatred and racial war. And these folks
claim to be Christian. If it weren't for what Timothy McVeigh did, I
suspect there would be more of them too -- after McVeigh, racism and
anti-governmental hate just don't sell in this country like they used
to. :/
Unlike you, I'm not particularly liberal, and do not routinely vote
for left-of-center candidates. I'm American to the bone. I'm not
even Muslim -- I'm an Orthodox Christian.
But it would not have occurred to me that the person who said the
prayer Abujamal posted and the people who planned and committed mass
murder and terrorism against us have anything in common. Abujamal and
I have many differences, but we have much more in common with each
other than either of us does with the alleged "Muslims" who murdered
innocent men, women, and children on September 11.
Now, my biggest fear is that the people making the decisions will
react as you did, and allow the terrorists to provoke them into
judging all Afghanis guilty for the actions of a few terrorists. :/
(At least the U.S. President is clearly not blaming all Muslims for
the actions of a few terrorists.)
Over eighty percent of Afghanis are subsistence farmers. They don't
have television or radio. They don't have a voice in their
government, as you and I do. Most probably haven't heard about the
attack on the WTC, as hard as that is for those of us who hang out on
Internet newsgroups to imagine. Many of them have no food, no money,
no resources -- nothing but their families (those that survived war
and starvation) and their God.
They are =NOT= responsible for what happened on September 11. Assuming
that bin Laden and al Quaeda were responsible, the citizens of
Afghanistan are for the most part =VICTIMS= of the killers, just as we
were. The difference is that we've been victimized a few times over
the past decade, while the Afghanis have had to live with these
alleged human beings for the past decade.
God grant that the leaders of my country and other western countries
think =carefully= about what they're doing. So often we've gone into
other countries intending to do good, and instead have done harm or
even outright evil.
At the same time, the west defeated Hitler. Sometimes, with some
enemies, you have to go to war. There's no other way.
God have mercy, and guide us rightly.
--
Catherine Hampton <ar...@tempest.boxmail.com>
Interim Moderator, soc.religion.islam
(Posting privately, not an official post.)
(Please send any emailed responses to the address in my
signature. The address I posted from is a spam trap.)
Allen Armstrong
news:tqpinnp...@corp.supernews.com...
> On 20 Sep 2001 14:14:00 GMT, Nigel...@sssltd.co.uk (Nige White)
> wrote:
>
> Which people, Nigel? Muslims, or terrorists? They aren't the same
> group, you know. Most Muslims are not terrorists or supporters of
> terrorists, and many terrorists aren't Muslim even in name.
>
As a 50-year-old peace-loving American, I totally agree Catherine. But I'm
afraid that much of future opinion depends on what the Muslim community says
and does in the next few days.
In order to avoid American citizens' opinions turning against Muslims in
general, it is imperative that Islamic leaders (both political and
religious) from all over the world (not just here) state clearly and firmly
(and more than once) that the people who did this, or any terrorists for
that matter, need to be found and punished as criminals.
Sadly, I don't see this happening. The most favorable quotes I read go
something like "the Islamic faith does not preach violence." But I also
read quotes like "Muslims must unite and stand together against the coming
Americans."
In my opinion... the Islamic community is currently on a very slippery slope
which could easily end in a general world war against them. The last thing
Americans want right now is a prolonged Vietnam-style war. Or a war of any
kind. But the events on Sept. 11 started us moving in that direction, and I
fear that some in the Arab world appear to want to promote this for their
own selfish reasons.
America has always stood for tolerance of all races and religions. But the
one thing we have never tolerated is a threat to that right of tolerance for
each individual. What happened on Sept. 11 must never happen again,
anywhere, and truly free and peaceful countries around the world will not
stop until that threat is contained.
Hamid Aziz
news:9ostcn$kqq$1...@samba.rahul.net...
> Sadly, I don't see this happening. The most favorable quotes I read go
> something like "the Islamic faith does not preach violence." But I also
> read quotes like "Muslims must unite and stand together against the coming
> Americans."
Comment:-
Muslims worldwide have condemned indiscriminate terrorist actions.
They agree that such crimes must be punished.
But many of us also see that the term "terrorism" is used in a biased way.
It seems to be applied almost exclusively to muslims or those thought to be
muslim
The media do not use phrases such as "Christian Terrorists", "Hindu
Terrorists", and so on.
And not even "American Terrorists".
Others are "terrorists" but if they come certain countries then they are
"Muslim Terrorists" or "Islamic Fundamentalists".
The US government or its agencies and large Corporations are known to have
conducted terrorist activities in many parts of the world. This is not
mentioned.
If the US bombs and kills innocent civilians, destroys their homes and means
of livelihood and causes thousands to flee into miserable existence is this
not terrorism on a massive scale.
If Muslims unite against terrorism of those who attacked the US then should
they not unite
against US terrorism?
The West has declared war against Terrorism and Muslim nations are helping,
but is this
campaign against all terrorists all over the world and against the terrorism
conducted by States?
No it is not - it is against "muslim terrorists" and
I suspect it is against any muslim whatever who opposes US policies and is
named as "Terrorist". No proof will be given but hysteria will be whipped
up.
No I am afraid that we are heading for a disaster of a much greater scale
> In my opinion... the Islamic community is currently on a very slippery
slope
> which could easily end in a general world war against them.
Comment:-
I fear that is US policy.
--
H. S. Aziz
More on www.altway.freeuk.com
pm...@hotmail.com
that the norm for American thought does NOT include any sort of
anti-Moslem military action. The historic expectation for someone
coming to American and becoming a part of this society is that they
believe in God. Whether understood in the Christian, Jewish, or
Moslem context it makes no differance. Just a belief in God (Allah)
is all that American society has historically expected. Around the
turn of the century (1900) even that expectation was dropped to allow
immigration of persons who do not even believe in God.
I believe that most conservative Christians such as myself consider
Islam in a dispassionate, even apathetic way, so long as it stays on
the other side of the globe. When Islam comes to American most of my
fellow conservative Christians appreciate Islamic moral conduct, the
modesty of Islamic women, the abstinance from alchohol and tobacco,
and the intention to do what is right to other persons. All of these
things most Christians appreciate and welcome.
The media uses the terms Protestant protestors or bombers or Catholic
bombers or rioters all the time in order to identify participants in
events in Northern Ireland. Also, during the Viet Nam war there was
frequent reference to Budhist monks and their activities. When the
religion of the participant is directly germane to the newsworthiness
of their actions it is perfectly appropriate to connect the religion
with the activity. Islam is not being singled out in that regard.
Are you saying that there is not connection between Al Qaeda and
Islam? Certainly the objectives of Al Qaeda are to install and
maintain an Islamic state, is it not? Is that not why 6,500 innocent
Americans were murdered while conducting their daily business?
latino
> the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, are now in your care.
that this guy was praying only for the Muslims who died there. These
are turns of speech known to us Muslims.It remains that anyone who has
read the Quran will realize that there is no forgiveness for the
Kuffar even they had been murdered. If a Muslim murders a Kafir, then
it is the Muslim who has commited a sin and is guilty of dhamb.The
Kadir does not become an inherotor of paradise by that
account.Sympathy comes naturally to us. Surely Abu talib was the best
of the kuffar. But The prophet(s) was prohibited from praying for
him.Such nuances seem to escape the verbal gymnasts around this place.
was salaam
Kasim
pm...@hotmail.com
that it means "unbeliever". I see other Muslims lumping Muslims,
Jews, and Christians together as "believers" in that we all believe in
the same Allah (however we sincerely believe differant things ABOUT
Allah).
How is it then that you speak as though you lump Christians and Jews
with Kafir? Are we, or are we not, all believers in the same God?
Vicki
post. If you lived in the time of Hitler, would you have felt that as a
Christian you should have apologized for what he was doing? The Islamic
community doesn't have to apologize for anything!! Why should they feel
that they have to make a statement as a people for anything just because
there Muslim? Should everyone assume until each Muslim stands before the
American people that they are a terrorist? That they are members of
Al-qaeda (which is said to have done the acts even though I don't think they
have the proof they say they do)?
Stereo typing is wrong!! Also, the Muslim people don't say exactly what
you want them to say, because although most of them think the acts on the
Pentagon and the WTC towers were horrific, they feel that the USA has
created much hate around the world. Those people are angry at us for
reasons.
Okay, here I go... I may get myself in trouble here, but here goes..
I agree with the points of Osama Bin Laden. He is opposed to things very
dear to my heart. The way the USA supports Israel and how they are to the
people of Palestine, and the sanctions on Iraq that kill upwards to 5/6000
Iraqis a month. The number that we lost in the WTC towers, or around there.
We lost that in one day, and Iraq loses this each month, and has done so for
over 10 years. By now they've had many WTC tower's explode!!!
If I were those people I can't say I wouldn't be angry!!! If you
watched your people dying daily, what would you do? Do you really know? It
is upsetting enough to this American!!! I think that you have to lay the
blame at our government!!! If they would stop terrorizing people around the
world, then we'd have much less problems!!!
Vicki
--
To visit my home page go to: http://members.home.net/andrada3
"Allen Armstrong" <repl...@newsgroup.thanks> wrote in message
news:9ostcn$kqq$1...@samba.rahul.net...