Sa'ad bin Abi Waqqas, r.a. narrated : Once I asked the
Messenger Allah, pbuh, who are the people who suffer the
most in Allah's way? He replied: Firstly the Prophets, then
those who do good [saliheen], then grade by grade all
mankind according to the level of their attachment to
religion. If a person's religion is strong, his suffering is
increased. If it is weak his suffering is reduced. The
suffering and calamities continue till the person walks on
earth purified of all wrong doing.
[Hadith in Sunan of Tirmidhi, # 2398, Sunan of Ibn Maja, #
4023, Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal # 1481. Listed as Hasan
Sahih by al-Albani.]
Not bad for our Jamaat al-Muslimeen account on Facebook.
New Trend's June 25 [Eid issue] reached 6920 people on
facebook. What was amazing was that it got 1402 "likes."
Some of the items in this issue were:
Special report on Masoud Khan, political prisoner in
USA.
Br. Kaukab's khutba on the young Muslim girl murdered in
Virginia.
Huge Show of Support for Erdogan
Tremendous crowds carrying the Red and Crescent flag of
Turkey gathered to show support for President Erdogan on the
anniversary of the failed coup attempt.
Canadian Good Samaritan Supports Syrian Refugees.
Nearly 7 out of 10 Canadians support their government's
acceptance of Syrian refugees. One such Good Samaritan is
Jim Estill, a prominent Canadian entrepreneur and
businessman. Haunted by pictures of Syrian cities reduced to
rubble and Syrian people dying as they tried to escape,
Estill has put up CAN$1.5 million to resettle 58 Syrian
families in a small university city west of Toronto. "My
thought is, what can I do to help?" Estill told
correspondent Martha Teichner. "You don't want to grow old
and say you stood by and did nothing. And it's the right
thing to do."
Two Israelis, Three Palestinians killed at al-Aqsa Mosque.
[New Trend report]
July 14: Two Israeli troops were killed when three
Palestinians opened fire on them at masjid al-Aqsa. An
Israeli force rushed the three fighters killing them in a
hail of gunfire.
Two of the Palestinians were 19 years old and one was
29.
The Israelis were from the Druze cult. Using heterodox cults
to hit Muslims is common in the Middle East. Egypt uses the
Copts, Bashar Assad uses Alawites, Syrian Christians and
Shi'ites, the Baghdad regime uses Yazeedis and medieval
Christian cults, Pakistan uses Qadianis and shia
minority.
Israel has occupied Jerusalem but lets Muslims pray at
al-Aqsa. After this incident, Israel stopped Friday prayers.
At this the Jordanian king intervened and the Israelis
agreed to re-open al-Aqsa. Thus each of the oppressors
pretend to be compassionate towards Islam.
INDIA
Hindu Killed Wife for Dinner Delay.
Wife Beating Culture in India.
BBC. July 10
Domestic violence has been the most reported violent crime
against women in the country every year for more than a
decade now
Police in India say they have arrested a 60-year-old man who
fatally shot his wife for serving his dinner late.
Ashok Kumar came home drunk on Saturday night and got into
an argument with his wife, Rupesh Singh, a senior police
officer in Ghaziabad city near the capital Delhi, told the
BBC.
Sunaina, 55, was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to
her head, but by then she had died, reports said.
Mr Kumar has confessed to his crime and now regrets his
actions, Mr Singh said.
"The man [Mr Kumar] used to drink every day. On Saturday, he
came home drunk and started having an argument with his
wife. She was upset with his drinking habit and wanted to
talk about it, but he wanted dinner immediately," Mr Singh
said.
"He got frustrated with the delay and shot her," he
added.
Domestic violence has been the most reported violent crime
against women in the country every year for more than a
decade now.
In 2015, an incident of domestic violence was reported every
four minutes under the legal definition of dowry deaths,
harassment over dowry related crimes, cruelty by husband or
his relatives and domestic violence.
The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi says such violence is not
unique to India - it occurs around the world - but what sets
it apart in India from many other countries is the culture
of silence and approval that often surrounds it.
According to a family survey carried out by the government,
more than 54% of men and 51% of women said it was ok for a
man to beat his wife if she disrespected her in-laws,
neglected her home or children, or even over something as
trivial as putting less - or more - salt in the food.
Husband-Wife Relations
by Felicia Livingstone
[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]
Men want a wife, not a shadow. You don't have to follow your
man everywhere. Some men can't use the bathroom without
their wife holding the toilet paper for them. They can't
enjoy being themselves and letting loose with the fellows
because there is the wife in the midst of it all. He can't
use the riding mower without her practically hopping on the
back. He can't talk on the phone without her hanging on to
every word.
Men need space. You need interests that can be shared and
.those that are separate. Marriage shouldn't cause you to
give up things you enjoy or cause you to lose your self
identity. You shouldn't depend on your mate to complete you
to the point of being paranoid outside of their presence.
Two people should come together because they are happy being
alone but more fulfilled being together. Suffocation kills
love over time because all they will want to do is get away
from you.
Relax and let him breathe.
July 16: According to a Chinese news agency, Islamic
militants and Bangladesh military forces are exchanging
gunfire in a suburb of Dhaka, known as Savar.
The security forces are urging them to surrender.
Two months back a garment worker rented the house where the
Islamics are located. The police have arrested the owner of
the house.
Note: Bangladesh has been trying to destroy independent
Islamic groups for the last several years; and most Muslim
groups in Bangladesh do not support armed resistance, which
makes it much easier for the regime to crush the small armed
opposition. The regime is strongly linked to India.
Latest Khutba
Latest Khutba
Islam can Help America to Defeat the Evils which have
Prevailed Here
On July 14, Br. Kaukab Siddique gave the juma' khutba and
led prayers at masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen in Baltimore.
In spite of ninety degree temperatures and poor air
conditioning, there was good attendance and the congregation
was very patient.
Here is an outline of the khutba given by Br. Kaukab
Siddique.
Text #1:
"O you who believe, intoxicants, and gambling, and the
altars of idols, and the games of chance are abominations of
the devil; you shall avoid them, that you may succeed."
[Quran 5:90]
Text #2
Narrated Abi Burda, r.a.: That Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari, r.a.,
said that The Prophet (peace be upon him) had sent him to
Yemen and he asked The Prophet (peace be upon him) about
certain (alcoholic) drinks which used to be prepared there.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "What are they?" Abu
Musa said, "Al-Bit' and Al-Mizr?" He said, "Al-Bit is an
alcoholic drink made from honey; and Al-Mizr is an alcoholic
drink made from barley." The Prophet (peace be upon him)
said, "All intoxicants are prohibited." Sahih Al-Bukhari -
Book 59 Hadith 631
Our existence as Muslims living in America can be
justified only if we are doing da'wah and helping America to
become a better place than it is.
Evils have prevailed here and unless we use Qur'an and
Sunnah to oppose them, they will only get worse.
It's not a good excuse that only a few of us are striving
and the forces of evil are strong. Remember Muhammad, pbuh,
was only one person but with the book of Allah, with the
support of his wife Khadija, r.a., and his best friend,
Khalil in Arabic, Abu Bakr, r.a., he was successful.
The evil forces in Arabia were not unlike what we have in
America yet Islam prevailed. Here is what we have in
America: Short list:
Racism.
Violence against women.
Rape.
Zionist Jewish control of the media and the movie
industry.
Pornographic industry.
Drugs and liquor mass culture.
Legitimization of homosexuality.
Attacks on Jesus, pbuh, and other teachers of
morality.
Trafficking on mass scale of women and children.
Exploitation of Mexicans and other poverty stricken
people.
War against Muslim nations to support Israel directly
and indirectly.
Exploitation and destruction of Africa.
We can change all this tremendous mass of evil if we
believe in Allah, seek guidance from the Qur'an and follow
the Sunnah as understood by the sahaba, r.a.
Part 2
In this small community, we have people of great
expertise and ability. We are seeking volunteers to help us
in these fields:
Writing and speaking.
Artistic presentation of Arabic script and Qur'anic
verses.
Counselling and Islamic advice for spouses &
families.
Prayer leaders during the week after juma'.
Security against gangsters, Zionists and racists.
Family day.
Sending letters, Qur'ans and literature to Muslims in
prisons [where allowed]
Remember, the Prophet, pbuh, has taught that the best good
deeds are those which though little are done consistently.
[Hadith from Ayesha, r.a.]
Urge the larger Muslim community across America to provide
us with stipends for those who spend their time in these
activities, for we are not a rich community.
Du'a: O Allah ! help us to study the Qur'an and hadith every
day. O Allah give us spouses and children who will stand
with us for Islam. O Allah, give victory to the oppressed
over the oppressors. Ameen.
PAKISTAN
New Trend's Historic Interview
Two months before the attack.
Background to the Army's Attack On Jamia Hafsa [Red
Mosque].
Interview with Umm Hasan Principal of Jamia Hafsa,
Islamabad, Pakistan.
Why Did Islamic Women Decide to Risk their Lives to Defy
General Musharraf in his Stronghold? Tony Blair's Role.
New Trend: Sis. Umm Hasan, I decided to interview you after
I saw that the forces opposed to Islam are busy trying to
discredit Jamia Hafsa on the Internet. It is obvious that
your Islamic university is having a tremendous impact on the
situation in Pakistan, located as you are in the capital of
Pakistan. BBC interviewed you ....
Umm Hasan: BBC gave a totally distorted picture of our
struggle. It said that we wanted to use violence and throw
acid on the faces of women who do not wear Islamic covering.
That would be totally unislamic and against Shari'a [Islamic
Law]. BBC tried to defame us.
New Trend: I have also heard that your university [Jamia] is
facing a threat of military action by General Musharraf
which could happen at any time. Is that true?
Umm Hasan : Yes, Musharraf has prepared a strike force known
as Triple One. It is heavily armed. We only have lathis
[wooden staves] to defend ourselves, but we will defend
ourselves. We have heard that a special gas has been
prepared by Musharraf's forces which would put people to
sleep.
NT: I don't think that will be easy for Musharraf. I have
read that Islamic volunteers from all over the country are
coming to your defense and many have assembled in Lal Masjid
which is in the same complex as Jamia Hafsa. But how did all
this start? Why are the young women in your care coming out
to fight?
UH: Women of Islam have been terrorized by General Musharraf
for much too long. We won't take it any longer. We are sick
and tired of his anti-Islam policies and actions. To give
you some idea, our university was attacked first by
Musharraf in the year 2004 during the night of August 16-17.
In the police rampage, our young women were terrorized and
attacked by the SWAT teams of Musharraf.
NT: That is indeed shameful!
UH: Then in 2005, in the aftermath of the London bombing of
7/7, after 11 days, Tony Blair called on Musharraf to attack
the Madrassas. Hardly had Blair spoken, then on the very
next day, July 19, Musharraf's Special Forces raided Jamia
Hafsa. They were shelling us with tear gas and firing
plastic bullets at the girls.
NT: You mean right there in Islamabad? What a dastardly act!
The general is a bloody coward!
UH: In this attack, Musharraf's forces injured 150 of our
girls. One of them had to spend three months in a clinic.
When Musharraf learned that a number of our students were in
hospital and were being given oxygen, he ordered that the
oxygen be turned off.
NT: What an accursed coward!
UH: The raids of 2004 and 2005 emboldened Musharraf so much,
he decided to start demolishing mosques in Islamabad. Hamza
masjid was actually demolished along with 8 others. We
received notice that Jamia Hafsa, along with another 80
[eighty] mosques and religious schools and establishments,
were to be demolished and that we should leave. This was the
immediate cause of the uprising of our young women and the
occupation of a small library as the symbol of our
resistance.
NT: I have read that the occupation of the library and the
young women's open defiance of the regime had good results.
The government announced that it would rebuild Masjid Hamza
and stop the demolition process. Then why did your struggle
continue? I have heard that the young women kidnapped a
"madam" who was running a prostitution den.
UH: Let me explain!
NT: Isn't that a violation of law and due process of law?
[Benazir Bhutto's] Peoples Party is making a big noise,
calling on Musharraf to crack down on Jamia Hafsa for this
"violation of law."
UH: There is no "rule of law" in this country. No woman can
appeal to the police for help. Any woman who falls into the
hands of the police is liable to be raped or at least
assaulted.
NT: What happened in the case of this "madam?" I read
somewhere that her name is "Shamim Naqvi" [a Shi'ite].
UH: She is known as "Auntie Shamim." Our girls had been
watching her activities for over a month. The neighbors are
sick and tired of her procurement of women for men in the
government and the crime and noise which goes along with it.
She was very confident of her power. She told anyone who
objected to the presence of thugs in her area and the
activities related to procuring women that she has
protection right from the top and that no one will dare to
touch her and survive. She was openly working as a
procuress. She was increasing her business with government
support, even sending girls to other cities.
NT: Then what happened?
UH: Our Islamic girls went to talk to her and begged her to
stop her activities, gave her the teachings of Allah and His
messenger, pbuh. The Islamic girls reminded her of the
Hereafter. Instead of relenting, at this advice she became
very angry and took out a knife. She cut one of our Islamic
girls. Then the young women picked her up and brought her
over. She was kicking and screaming and used her mouth to
bite two of the girls. She left tooth marks. She was not
hurt and was brought without injury,
NT: All praise belongs to Allah! And then?
UH: She was told that Islamic women mean her no harm and
only want to stop her shameful and sinful activities of
procurement of women for government officials. At first she
threatened and said that she has "long hands" and we will
not survive. However, when she realized that the Islamic
women were not going to let go easily, she repented and
wrote a full confession of her misdeeds.
NT: Who were her clients?
UH: She did indeed have long hands. She gave us the list of
her "customers." Among her clients or customers are Shaikh
Rasheed and his nephew Rasheed Shafiq.
NT: You mean the Shaikh Rasheed who is the closest publicist
of Musharraf? He is Railway Minister perhaps, isn't he? The
one who keeps giving press statements about how great
Musharraf is ? Are you sure?
UH: The very same. Top government women are also involved in
this corruption.
NT: Such as?
UH: Nilofar Bakhtiar and Zubaidah Jalal.
NT: You might get into a lot of trouble. You are mentioning
top people including Shaikh Rasheed by name. He is a
powerful man, very close to Musharraf. Aren't you
afraid?
UH: We have been taking names right from the time "Auntie
Shamim" confessed. We want the people of Pakistan to know
how corrupt and degraded this government is. Thus when
Musharraf tries to get these people "elected," Pakistanis
will know who is being "voted" into power. Musharraf is
going for new "elections."
NT: You are challenging the power structure. Your girls have
long sticks [lathis]; the government has machine guns and
tanks. Why do you feel so strong? Who is on your side?
UH: Allah and His messenger, sal Allaho alaihi wassalam, and
the believers.
NT: How many young Islamic women are holding on to the
library?
UH: 150
NT: What's the total enrollment of Jamia Hafsa?
UH: We have a total of 6,000 female students. Of these,
3,000 are at the middle school and matric level. The rest
are at the university level. In addition to regular courses,
we teach Hifz Qur'an and at the senior level we teach Fiqh
[Islamic Jurisprudence\ and Study of Hadith.
NT: How many of the students are on campus at this time?
UH: About 1,500.
NT: How many teachers?
UH: 175.
NT: Since when have you been the Principal?
UH: Since we began in 1991. NT: Thank you for the interview. I'll come back to you with
more questions. May Allah keep you safe and strong in Islam.
War News
Pakistan
New Offensive against Islamic State [IS]
On July 16, the Pakistani military launched an all out
offensive against Islamic State related elements who had
infiltrated the Rajgul valley of Khyber on the Afghan
border.
Earlier on July 14, gunmen killed 4 police officers in
Quetta.
Earlier still on July 10, a human bomber hit police in the
Chaman area killing the police chief and 2 others and
wounded 30,
Philippines
Marawi. Day 53
As of July 15, the Islamic State [IS] affiliates Maute and
Abu Sayyaf continue to hold the center of Marawi city.
Government losses have been announced as 93 military and 45
civilians killed. The government is confused about the
losses it has inflicted on the Islamics. It announced on May
23 that 50 to 70 fighters had entered Marawi but now it is
announcing that the number Islamics it has killed number in
the hundreds.
President Duterte's deadline to the military to defeat the
mujahideen is running out. He is thanking USA and China for
providing munitions.
Abu Sayyaf is also active in Solo island several hundred
miles down from from Marawi where it kidanaped 5 people just
before Duterte arrived. The army had a big clash with the
fighters and the regime is giving out medals to the
soldiers.
Syria
Russia-Assad-Iran on the left, America-Kurdish
Communists-Syrian Mercenaries on the Right taking Syria.
Heavy Bombing, Shelling and Tank Columns Against Islamic
groups. IS & FSA Counterattacking.
On July 15,
a loosely united coalition of Islamic fighters
[FSA elements?] tried to take back western Aleppo. It was a
powerful attack. They reached the city limits of al-Zahraa
but were stopped from further advances by Assad's missile
attacks, Iranian artillery and Russian air strikes.
On July 15,
in the desert east of Homs, at Hynyma, the
advancing columns of Lebanese Hizbullah and Iranian
revolutionary Guards were hit by Islamic State counterattack
initiated with a car bomb. SOHR says about 30 of the
Hizbullah were killed, others wounded. The advance has
stopped but will presumably resume.
On July 15-16,
an Islamic State counterattack dislodged
Kurdish Communist [SDF] forces which had entered a district
of al-Raqqa, the IS capital. However SDF reinforcements are
pouring in with US air support and are surrounding al-Raqqa
from all sides.
Also, July 15,
the US air force continued to attack Islamic
families of fighters who left al-Raqqa and went to
al-Mayadeen deep in Islamic State territory. In this latest
bombing raid, the US air force killed 6 children and 2
women. [As we reported earlier, the US air force has killed
several hundred women and children who have taken refuge in
al-Mayadeen area.]
July 13-16.
Assad's elite troops with Russian air support
are clashing heavily with Islamic groups in the Damascus
suburbs of Jobar and Ain Terma. The mujahideen group facing
Assad in this battle is known as al-Rahman corp. The regime
forces could not advance but in the five air strikes in
their support, 5 women, 2 children and 5 civilian men were
killed.
[Regime forces are trying to destroy all civilian facilities
in the suburbs of Damascus so that the population may agree
to move to Idlib.]
July 15.
Turkish artillery hit SDF [Kurdish communists] in
Afrin city. Turkey is trying to advance in the entire Azaz
area in north central Syria.
July 12.
Taking advantage of conflict between al-Nusra and
pro-IS elements in Idlib province, Assad's saboteurs used a
bomb attack which killed 8 of al-Nusra's members and injured
18.
SOHR is insisting, as reported earlier by Russia, that the
leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was
killed a couple of months back. It did not say how or where.
IS has not issued a statement on this.
Iraq
Mosul Week 39. Trump Week 25
Urban Warfare Continues. Entire City Destroyed. Serious
Atrocities. No Surrender. Mosul did not ask to be
Liberated.[New Trend has excerpted these reports from
Western newspapers. They indicate that fighting continued
during the entire week following the Shia regime's claim of
TOTAL VICTORY on July 9.]
The US-backed regime is committing horrific atrocities
against Islamic State prisoners. The US and its coalition
has bombed the entire city, reducing it to rubble. AIRWARS
group now says the air and artillery assault has killed 5118
civilians but other estimates are that more than 8000
civilians have been killed . About 2000 are feared to be
lying dead in the rubble of the city. The Shia army
indiscriminately used heavy weapons in heavily populated
while persistently claiming that they don't want to hurt
civilians.
This excerpts from the National Review of July 14 are the
best first person account of continuing IS resistance within
West Mosul. [New Trend has put the key points in bold
type.]
"..... Stalingrad says Sebastian Backhaus, a photojournalist
from Berlin. "They're still fighting," says a fixer
apparently trying to explain why he didn't bring any flak
vests for protection. "ISIS snipers everywhere."
The stench is pronounced in the 112-degree heat. There's
small-arms fire a few blocks away. And then a hellfire
strike. "This is intense," the fixer says. "Two days ago, it
was silent here."
"They're backed up to the river," an Iraqi soldier says. A
Humvee pulls up from the direction of the fight to a
makeshift medic station, formerly a small butcher shop. Two
wounded Iraqi-army soldiers are brought out of the Humvee,
one on a stretcher, the other limping and stunned. The
latter appears to be in shock, shrapnel in his face, arms,
chest, and legs. The other is on a stretcher, a hole in his
knee with bone protruding out a couple of inches. He yells
aloud intermittently while soldiers and medics hold him
down. He's sedated and then transferred by Humvee to a real
medical facility. "They're cornered now," says a soldier
through an interpreter. "They're down to suicide vests."
Everywhere the defeat of ISIS is imminent, especially in
Mosul. And somehow the fighting continues
An Apache appears above, empties its payload at ISIS. A
spirited, middle-aged Iraqi-army non-commissioned officer
named Nabil hops out of a Humvee and offers his report.
"It's all foreign fighters," he says. Chechens. Afghans.
Westerners. He points to the rubble where, he claims, for a
skeptical Spanish journalist, lies the body of a Chinese
ISIS soldier. The unexploded ordnance, booby traps, and IEDs
(improvised explosive devices) deter her from further
inquiry. The journalist is exhausted; the soldiers are
exhausted. Only ISIS seems indefatigable.
A Humvee pulls up with another wounded Iraqi soldier, this
one with injuries across the torso, arms, neck, and head.
His face is cut up and bloody. He can't be 20 years old.
He's in terrible pain and visibly terrified. He groans and
they sit him up. The IV slowly takes effect. After he's
stabilized and moved, an American medic gives a summary for
those who were standing a few feet away. "He has a hole in
his throat but it wasn't sucking air. He's got some shrapnel
wounds. You saw how badly his face was shredded up. Grenade,
I think. But he should live." Not every Iraqi soldier will
be so fortunate this day. A few of us move down a street
toward "the front" — not an altogether meaningful term
in urban warfare. The fighting intensifies. Still more
corpses. Who is and is not ISIS is a source of speculation.
Many of these dead are civilians, some children. "That's the
corpse of a woman," says one journalist. "I think it's a
little girl," says a fixer.
On the other side of a building to our front, perhaps 300
meters away, a blast is followed by a plume of smoke.
"Suicide bomber," says one of the Iraqi soldiers.Several
minutes later, a Humvee speeds past going to the butcher
shop; an Iraqi soldier tossed on the hood appears
unconscious or perhaps dead. There were six other
casualties. An Iraqi soldier named Ghasem stops his Humvee
to drive me toward the front. Like many here, he's somehow
of good cheer. He makes a quick stop next to other soldiers,
whose vehicles bear images of the Ayatollah Khomeini and
other Shiite figures
The physical rebuilding of Mosul will probably take decades.
But the healing of the Iraqi people will take generations
— healing that can begin only when the violence stops.
The mission in Mosul is nowhere near accomplished.
Serious Atrocities by the Shia Military.
July 15
Excerpts from The Guardian
The body of a long-haired Islamic State militant lies
rotting in the scorching heat. Blast-strewn cars and bullet
holes in walls bear witness to a fierce firefight that took
place in the Zanjili neighbourhood of west Mosul.
Once a stronghold of Isis, Zanjili is now a ghost town. Life
has stopped and nothing moves; even the stray cats and dogs
that roam other parts of the city, feeding on the dead, are
nowhere to be seen. The eerie silence is punctured by
occasional volleys of heavy gunfire from two Iraqi
helicopters firing at Isis positions in the remaining
militant-held pockets of the old city less than half a
kilometre away.
The total destruction of Zanjili is a testament to the
enormous task ahead for the Iraqi prime minister, Haidar
al-Abadi - the reconstruction of this city at a time when
lower oil prices have severely depleted government coffers.
The UN has estimated that repairing basic infrastructure in
the city will cost more than $1.3bn (£990m).
"In western Mosul what we're seeing is the worst damage of
the entire conflict," Lise Grande, the UN's humanitarian
coordinator for Iraq, said last week. "In those
neighbourhoods where the fighting has been the fiercest,
we're looking at levels of damage incomparable to anything
else that has happened in Iraq so far."
Several men and a woman scavenging through Zanjili emerge
from a side street. "This place is destroyed," said Mohammad
Fathi Salih, 26, a teahouse owner. Salih does not know how
many customers who sipped his sweet tea every day are dead.
"Many people died here. There was a baby who died of hunger
because there was no food."
He showed the Observer a mass grave in this once densely
populated area, in the front yard of a school whose roof had
blown away. "We had no other place to bury them. We buried
151 people here," said Salih, emphasising the number. "There
were women, children, young, old. We brought them from
streets around here one by one."
Unidentified corpses are being fished out of the Tigris
river, with human rights observers suggesting government
forces are behind the deaths
"Since 2003, Iraqi forces have carried out abuses against
the civilian population with complete impunity, mainly
targeting Sunni Arabs," said Belkis Wille, senior Iraq
researcher at Human Rights Watch. "They have carried out
campaigns of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance,
torture and extrajudicial killings. These have all been key
push factors for young Sunni Arab men to join Isis."
Iraqi security forces' reputation suffered a blow last week
when about a dozen videos showing troops' brutality were
published on social media. One shows a soldier stabbing a
man in the neck and face as he shrieks in pain and begs for
his life. "This is for the martyrs," says the soldier as the
man lies in a pool of blood.
In the past nine months, Iraqi security forces have been
mired in a number of incidents contrary to the rules of
conflict but Baghdad has stayed silent.
"The battle for Mosul is meant to be the final major battle
in Iraq against Isis and yet this battle has opened the
floodgates to those very campaigns of abuse, and the videos
and testimony of abuse that have emerged have been met with
silence from Baghdad," said Wille. "If the Iraqi authorities
and the US-led coalition really want to put an end to Isis,
they need to not only engage militarily but tackle the push
factors - put an end to abuses [carried out] with impunity.
Otherwise we will not see an end to extremist groups in Iraq
any time soon."
Mohammad, a former police officer from Noor in east Mosul
who now drives a taxi on the city's outskirts, questions
whether the Iraqi government has learned from its
mistakes.
"Now we have Shia flags everywhere," he said, referring to
the banners depicting the prophet Muhammad's nephew Ali and
his grandsons Hassan and Hussein revered by Shia Muslims.
"Sunnis of Mosul see these flags as insults."
July 13
In a "liberated" area of Mosul: (IraqiNews.com) A police
officer and three soldiers were killed while handling
Islamic State suicide bombers in a liberated western Mosul
district, an informed security source said.
July 12
Gunfire in Mosul all day long. Helicopters strafing
......
Reuters
"Iraqi forces exchanged gunfire with the militants in their
final Mosul redoubt just before midnight and through the day
on Wednesday, three residents living just across the Tigris
River from the area told Reuters.
Army helicopters strafed the Old City and columns of smoke
rose into the air.
"We still live in an atmosphere of war despite the victory
announcement two days ago," said Fahd Ghanim, 45. Another
resident said the blasts shook the ground around half a
kilometer away.
July 11
TIKRIT, Iraq: ISIS has captured most of a village south of
Mosul despite losing control of its stronghold in the city,
an Iraqi army officer and residents said, deploying
guerrilla-style tactics as its self-proclaimed caliphate
crumbles.
But the terrorist, armed with machine guns and mortars, have
now seized more than 75 percent of Imam Gharbi, a village on
the western bank of the Tigris river some 70 km (44 miles)
south of Mosul, and reinforcements are expected, the Iraqi
army officer said.
ISIS launched its attack on Imam Gharbi last week, in the
kind of strike it is expected to deploy now as US-backed
Iraqi forces regain control over cities the group captured
during its shock 2014 offensive.
Daily Mail July 12
Bombs continued to be dropped on Mosul's Old City on
Tuesday, despite victory having been declared against
ISIS
The BBC's Basheer Al Zaidi in Mosul later said exchanges of
gunfire and explosions were continuing to come from the Old
City, and that helicopters were carrying out air strikes on
IS positions.
RESEARCH
Difference between Shiism & Muslim/Islam
By Khalid Amayreh
[The writer is a renowned Palestinian scholar on Islamic
issues.]
Shiisim is largely but not completely a Persian corruption
of Islam. Imamate is basically a fabricated and concocted
concept unmentioned in the Quran. Shiism is shiism and Islam
is Islam. Hence, the two should be viewed as SEPARATE
RELIGIONS Just like Judaism and Christianity. Attempts to
lump Islam and Shiism are futile and will fail. Why?
Because the differences between the two have to do with the
fundamentals.
Muslims worship Allah, the creator, directly without
intermediaries or middle entities, whereas Shiites worship
the imam (an all-perfect creature or vicegerent of God) and
Ahlulbayt ( the family (but not wives) of the Prophet. They
are the waseela or means to God.
Muslims believe Islam was completed and perfected with the
death of Muhammad, Shiites on the other hand, believe
revelation continued and Fatema and her children and
grandchildren, the Imams, continued to receive revelations
and had their own respective Qurans.
For Shiites, Ali is the greatest person in the world, who
personifies God. He is effectively greater than Muhammad and
all other Prophets. Muhammad, Shiites believe, who failed
to convey the entire message, namely the part related to Ali
being the alleged successor to Muhammad. Sunni Muslims
believe Muslims should choose their leaders
democratically.
Muslims believe the Quran is God's final message or
testament to mankind, while Shiites consider the Quran
incomplete, imperfect, unauthoritative, unauthentic,
corrupted, distorted, tampered with and lacking authority.
Some Shiite scholars declare this belief openly, like Nuri
Tabarsi, while others deny that the Quran is Muharrad
(distorted).
The Shiites are awaiting a Shiite messiah called al Mahdi.
The figure is widely viewed as mythical as the Quran makes
no mention of an occulted messiah who has been hiding in a
cave in Iraq. Sunni Muslims dismiss this Mahdi as a baseless
legend.
