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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Zulhijjah 27,1427/January 17, 2007 #6


Please scroll down to end for latest situation in Pakistan, including bombing of village in S. Waziristan, from Syed Munawar Hasan, a top JI leader.
Also interesting opportunity to give Islamic message in South Korea.


Reflections
Dr. Abdulalim Shabazz Remembers Dr. Martin Luther King as a Contemporary in the Struggle: Dr. King was Moving Towards Islam

Dr. Shabazz, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, is deeply respected both in the Black community and the Islamic community for his intellect, his integrity, his record of achievement in academia and his commitment to the rights of African-Americans and Muslims. On the occasion of Dr. M. L. King's anniversary, New Trend asked Dr. Shabazz about his memories of the Civil Rights leader. Here is an excerpt from the information New Trend got:

When Dr. King was 28, Dr. Shabazz was 29. They traveled to address different audiences and every now and then would meet at airports in Washington, DC, Chicago and Atlanta. Dr. King had moved to Atlanta in the 60s. Dr. Shabazz saw King as a charismatic young man although he was on the "opposite side."
Those were days of overt and intense White racism, so the two were fighting for the same cause, one through integrative activity and the other through Black separatism and the Muslim Movement led by the Hon. Elijah Muhammad. Some idea of the situation can be gauged from the incident in the night of May 1, 1960 when the Klu Klux Klan [KKK, a blatantly White Supremacist group] burned a cross at Dr. Shabazz' home in Atlanta . Both Dr. King and Dr Shabazz (then called Dr Cross) were seen by these people as "dangerous rabble rousers."
Dr. Reddick, a friend of Dr Shabazz and a former history professor at Alabama State College (now Alabama State University), published one of the first biographies of Dr King, Crusader Without Violence, in which Dr Shabazz (without his name being mentioned) appeared as the first intellectual critic of Dr King's approach to the struggle of Black Americans for freedom, justice and equality.

From studies of Dr. King's life in his last years, it appears that Dr. King was steadily moving closer to the Muslim movement's point of view before he was assassinated. At one point the Hon. Elijah Muhammad and Dr. King had dinner together and afterwards Dr King remarked: "I find no fault in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad."
It's this unity of the Black community which needed to be achieved, says Dr. Shabazz. That unity in turn links up with the unity of all oppressed people, and in particular the global Muslim community.
Dr. Shabazz, later still, joined orthodox Islam and was an Imam in the movement of Imam W.D. Muhammad. Today he is a member of the National Shoora of Jamaat al-Muslimeen and he is an ardent supporter of The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.


About New Trend
Re. New Trend, January 14: Salams, are the links below part of a bigger article, or is it just small paragraph information.
Faisal K. [England]

[Ed. note: New Trend is presented in this way because we have our own reporters and writers. We do not want to spread stories as written by people hostile to the Muslims. We check for accuracy. Our reporting, inshallah, cannot be challenged, but we are open to correction. Making it brief increases readability. People nowadays do not read long articles.]


From Imam Badi Ali, Greensboro, NC

Saddam's Half-Brother Barzan Was Tortured and Decapitated before the 'Hanging': Shi'ites Lack Leadership, Play the Occupiers' game and Could Face Disaster

The hangings [on January 15] express an attempt to humiliate and degrade the Muslims of Iraq and Muslims in general. The version we are being given is that Barzan's head broke off his neck but this usually does not happen in hangings. Indications are that he was tortured, with marks all over his body, and then his head was chopped off.

Both the executions were unjustified and came as a result of a show trial. The defense statements of the two victims were concealed from the public. It is ridiculous to make claims against Saddam Hussein [shaheed] and his men when the occupation forces have killed half-a-million people, including 100,000 from aerial bombardment.

When these occupiers and their Shi'ite servants can so shamelessly hang the top people in a sovereign country, it is not difficult to imagine what they are doing to Muslims in prisons like Abu Ghraib. The suffering of the people is too great even to be imagined. HIT SQUADS have killed thousands and NO ONE has been punished. Moqtada and al-Hakim are behind these atrocities.

The Shi'ites are cutting themselves off from the Muslim ummah by these horrible acts, working as part of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. They don't realize that after they have been used to destroy the Sunnis, it will be their turn. America will use them and then destroy them.

This is not a conspiracy or something hidden. There is an open alliance between the Shi'ites and Americans in Iraq. They are calling the Sunnis a "minority" but it could result in bad consequences for Shi'as who are minorities in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Pakistan.

It might be too late, but the Shi'ite leadership should draw back and think of the long range effects of their close alliance with the occupation forces. Are there any voices of wisdom among them?

Muslims throughout the world, other than one sect, look at these executions of top Iraqis with horror and disgust. Looks like the occupation has left no sense of sanity or balance in its desire to humiliate and crush the resistance. The results are bound to be catastrophic.


Letter:
In Defense of Ellison's Oath on Missionary "Qur'an"

Respected brother Dr Kaukab Siddique,

Assalamu Alaikum. With reference to item on Ellison's oath on the Quran ( Sale's translation ), I humbly submit to you that the oath-taking by Congressman Ellison on the copy of the Quran used by Jefferson is symbolic in nature and the event has significance for the present and future American history. How far the translation is correct is beside the point here. To give importance to the issue of correctness of translation will be mis-judgement of the core question of the issue.

I can only request you to ensure that the New Trend magazine remains focused on substantial aspects of all issues and ignore the perepheral aspects. We know all human beings are weak and have some defeciencies.

Your brother,
Shah Abdul Hannan [Bangladesh]


Dear reader: walaikum asalam
Islam has clear standards. Participation in the oppressive power structure is forbidden. Then on top of that Mr. Ellison used a "Qur'an" which insults the Prophet, pbuh, and was taken from a slave holder's library. Thus Mr. Ellison failed both as a Muslim and as an African-American. His behavior is symbolic only of political opportunism and played right into the hands of the Zionists whose propaganda says that Muslims are prospering in America. -- Editor


PRESS RELEASE
January 16, 2007

Community Outraged at $35,000 Bond Set by Immigration Judge for Mother & Daughter of Queens Family Arrested as Intimidation

For questions, contact:
Fahd Ahmed, DRUM (940) 391-2660 or Kavitha Pawria, 718-216-0756

FOR PHOTOS, email: fahd@drumnation.org OR kavitha@drumnation.org

Despite frigid weather, a busload of family and community supporters from civil and human rights organizations traveled to Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey today to demonstrate their support for the Siraj family. Another chapter in a nightmare that has ruined the lives of a tight-knit family unfolded as an Immigration Judge, in a hearing closed to the public, set a forbidding bond in the amount of $20,000 for the mother and $15,000 for the daughter.

Today's hearing comes a week after Matin Siraj was sentenced to 30 years in prison for false terrorism charges based on an NYPD-paid informant's entrapment. Less than twelve hours after sentencing, the Siraj family's Queens home was raided by ICE at dawn and the father, mother and daughter were arrested and jailed in New Jersey. Immediately after today's hearing, speaking to a crowd of supporters in a press conference organized by DRUM, the family's immigration lawyer, Mona Shah, reported that the bond hearing was unusually lengthy, the bond amount was peculiarly high for a routine immigration matter, and that the mother and daughter were visibly distraught. After hearing the Judge's decision at the support demonstration, a family member expressed, "The Judge has set a prohibitive, unfair bond. I cannot make magic to raise this money and the family has already broken their backs to fight a preposterous case against their son. The lives of an innocent family are being destroyed." While family and community members scramble to raise funds, the family will be held at Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey. The father will not receive a similar hearing and instead, is subject to an ICE Administrative decision under an unspecified timeline.

An organizer of today's demonstration in support of the family, Fahd Ahmed expressed, "Setting such an unreasonable bond is clearly another political tactic to keep our communities fearful and silent. The Siraj family, as another victim of the US government's "war on terror", is being targeted for their outspoken cries for justice on behalf of their son…they remain steadfast and courageous in speaking the truth as the government continues to try to break their spirits".

Given the high-profile media attention on their son's case, in which there were many underhanded legal irregularities and rights violations, these arrests and today's unreachable bond are being seen by the community as an attempt to silence and make an example of the family through harassment. From detention, the mother recently said that "this is a systematic targeting of Muslims, a political attack on a peaceful family—and we have been caught in the middle of it. We have not gotten any justice and will continue to speak the truth. We will continue to struggle with patience and courage."

DRUM, as a community based organization that works with Muslim and South Asian immigrants and has seen the targeting of this community before and especially after 9/11, is calling on all concerned individuals and organizations to support the immediate release of the Siraj family. DRUM, alongside countless civil and human-rights organizations and concerned citizens will continue to expose the ongoing injustices of the "War on Terror" against this family and all targeted communities.


South Korean Community Looking for Imam

A Request from a brother in South Korea:

Christian missionaries are coming from US to Korea in a large number for the past 100 years & they have converted 20 to 30% population to christianity. Its easy for US missionaries to come here because they come & teach English & also spread christianity. So if you know some very good religious brothers, then it will be very easy for them to come here. Inshallah we will arrange for their visa. Also we will provide accommodation. Also we will help them in getting part time english teaching job. Korean people are very nice and they listen to other people. Buddhism is their old religion but now most of the Koreans are becoming christians or atheists. It is very good time for Muslims to do dawah here. We really need some full time Dawah worker here & we request you to help us in this regard. JazakAllah Khair for reading this email. Waasalam Aamir Malik Gwangju South Korea

CONTACT: aamir@gist.ac.kr


INTERVIEW With Syed Munawar Hasan, Secretary General Jamaate Islami Pakistan and leading organizer of the Islamic Coalition MMA.

Latest Bombing of Pakistani Village: Could it Mean U.S. is Preparing Military Move into Pakistan?

New Trend: asalamu alaikum. According to Pakistani news reports from villagers, 10 people, 5 Afghans and 5 Mahsud tribesmen were killed in the bombing of a village in South Waziristan area of Pakistan on January 16. The Pak. army says, it carried out the bombing. However, a major U.S. TV news network, CBS, said, Jan. 16, that the bombing was done by the U.S. but the U.S. allowed Pak army to "take the credit." A drone and 5 helicopters were used in the attack. What do you make of this situation?

Syed Munawar Hasan: Musharraf and his henchmen have reached such a very low level of treachery and shamelessness that they want to take "credit" for killing their own people. There were no "terrorists" or outside fighters there. The 5 Afghans killed were innocent woodcutters. The local people are sure this was not some victory against fighters.

NT: Could be that the U.S. is moving its military offensive into Pakistan? U.S. Security man Negroponte has said that the top terrorists are hiding in Pakistan.

SMH: This bombing was meant to coincide with U.S. Defense Secretary Gates visit to show the world how much Pakistan is in step with the U.S. Musharraf is trying to disrupt the Frontier Province to undermine the Islamic government there and to open up the whole area to military intervention. Earlier there were claims by the U.S. that it had killed 150 Taliban coming into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Taliban are not so stupid as to make easy targets of so many of their men. Careful observers say that those killed were DEFENSELESS VILLAGERS mostly women and children.

NT: Recently there were explosions in [JI Ameer] Qazi Hussain Ahmed's public meeting in Sargodha. I hope he is okay.

SMH: He did not flinch as the explosions went off, though 10 people were injured. The large crowd remained strongly disciplined and the rally was completed as planned. We know that governmental agencies are behind these moves.

NT: How is the situation in Karachi?

SMH: The city has been handed over to MQM. They are known as "bhatta khor." At every level of government, MQM is squeezing bribes out of the people of the city. Widespread corruption is being openly carried out.

SMH: [continuing} How are you? How are Muslims in American?

NT: The governmental oppression of Muslims in the U.S. has become so common and so widespread that even to report and cover the cases of government persecution of Muslims is becoming difficult.

SMH: Yes, I know because now I am receiving New Trend regularly. May Allah be with you.

2007-01-18 Thu 04:48:59 cst
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