New Trend Magazine www.newtrendmag.org

WHY WAS MULLAH ZAEEF ABDUCTED?

One of the most shameful episodes in Pakistani President Musharref's devotion to the fulfillment of Pax Americana was the kidnaping of Mullah Abdus Salaam Zaeef, the Islamic ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan. Not only was he kidnapped from his home in Islamabad, he was handed over to the U.S. which had already carried out massacres of Islamic POWs in Afghanistan (see New Trend's report on MASSACRE IN MAZAR, a documentary prepared by an Irish journalist whom U.S. media have banned.)

Question in many people's minds: Why was this shameful action carried out. A partial answer comes from Kenton Keith. He is the senior Vice President of Meridian International Center. When Pervez Musharraf stopped Zaeef from speaking to the media, Kenton was brought in to try and repair the damage done by Zaeef. Musharref organized briefings with Pakistan's press corp (daily) for Kenton so that America's viewpoint may be projected.
Kenton, an arrogant but innocuous man with overlong side burns, spoke about his experience later. Kenton said:
"WE WERE TAKING A BEATING FROM ABDUS SALAAM ZAEEF." Why? Because Zaeef was "claiming civilian casualties" and like the "Pakis" was referring to the "war on Islam." [Research has proven that Zaeef was right. Even the New York Times and NPR have admitted "thousands" of Afghan civilians killed in U.S. bombing. Islamic sources say 60,000 have been killed with entire villages buried in the mud.]

Kenton insisted that USA's bombing was "quite impressively humane." His "theory" is that Muslims accept martyrdom owing to "peer pressure." {All quotes in this report are from Keith's interview on C-Span, April 3, 2002}

Thus strangely enough. America, which claims freedom of expression as its key virtue, WANTED TO SILENCE the ONE MAN who had the credibility to break through America's 24/7 propaganda barrage. By speaking the truth, Mullah Zaeef signed his own death warrant (or if he is still alive, the torture and humiliation he has suffered.) THUS THE TALIBAN GIVE US THE ONLY MAN WHO SACRIFICED HIS LIFE FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. Strange but true!
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Are Qur'an and Hikmah (wisdom) the same? Is Hikmah only in the Qur'an?
By Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D

In a posting on WideMinds, a prominent member of the Perwezi sect, Mr. Bashir Abid, tried to claim that Muslims should follow only the Qur'an because, in his words, "The Wisdom is in the Qur'an itself." He refers to Sura 17:23-38 which contains "principles and values" and then quotes verse 17:39: "These are (values and principles) among the Wisdom (Al Hikmah) which your Sustainer has revealed to you." From this verse, Bashir Abid concludes : "in other words, Qur'anic values and principles are sufficient for the sustained growth and development of an healthy society."

From this point to jumps to this strange claim, typical of Perwezi sect members, that "Therefore we don't need any secondary source to look for wisdom. It is absolutely childish view to think that Al Kitab means Qur'an and Al Hikmah means Hadith or Sunnah. The question is: If Qur'an does not contain Wisdom, then what does it meant for." (Quoted as in Mr. Abid's message.)

REBUTTAL:
1. The Qur'an does NOT say that Allah revealed ONLY the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The Qur'an gives us the prayer of Abraham and Ismail (pbut) which Allah answered by sending Muhammad (pbuh):
"Our Lord! Send among them a Messenger of their own who will recite your verses to them and teach them the Book and Wisdom and purify them: For thou art the exalted in Might, the Wise." (2:129)

Thus the messenger was to:
1) Recite the verses revealed to him,
2) teach the Book,
3)teach wisdom, related to the Book,
4) purify them.
The tasks of the messenger obviously go beyond merely reciting or transmitting the verses received from Allah.

The Qur'an later on affirms that Muhammad's (pbuh) role is exactly as defined in the prayer of Abraham and Ismail (pbut). It says:
"It is He Who has sent among the unlettered people a messenger from among themselves, to recite to them His verses, to purify them, and to teach them the Book and Wisdom, - although they had been in error manifest." (62:2)

Note that the BOOK and WISDOM (Hikmah) are two SEPARATE items. The Qur'an is NOT saying "the wisdom in the Book."

Then the Qur'an goes on to point out that this role of the Prophet (pbuh) is not only for the time when the Book was being revealed in Arabia but for the FUTURE too. [Read on from 62:2 with reference to the "unlettered people."]

"Along with others of them, who have not already joined them: And He is Exalted in Might, Wise." (62:3)

So the Prophet (pbuh) is meant to teach and purify people who were not his immediate audience. This entire role of the Prophet (pbuh) has been preserved in the authentic hadith WHICH HIS COMPANIONS NARRATED. All who met Muhammad (pbuh) and were faithful to his message knew that his teaching of the Qur'an and wisdom plus his process of purification of humanity must be preserved in its purity and transmitted.
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The Qur'an, in addition to the verses referred to above, also uses the word HIKMAH is a variety of ways. There is HIKMAH (wisdom) in the Qur'am itself, as Bashir Abid noted from surah 17, but that does not limit it to the Qur'an. Here is an example of a verse which clarifies the fact that HIKMAH (wisdom) is not the same as KITAB (the BOOK). "We bestowed al-Hikmah (wisdom) on Luqman ..." (31:12) It does not mean that Allah gave a Qur'an or a Book to Luqman,

The Qur'an is a powerful and eloquent Book and uses Arabic words in a great variety of ways (such as the term "hadith" which has also been distorted by the Perwezi sect.) That is all more the reason why Allah sent the Qur'an to us through the Messenger (pbuh) so that we should not put our own desires into its interpretation.

The teachings of the Messenger (pbuh) are essential to Islam and have been preserved in the authentic hadith owing to the tremendous effort of his Sahaba (the blessed companions). The scholars of Islam made sure that the Hadith were preserved in their purity. They still do not come up to the excellence of the Qur'an but they are the best that human beings could preserve.

Make no mistake about it, Hadith are the revolutionary teachings of the greatest revolutionary of all times. The Qur'an has been applied to every aspect of life owing to its interpretation, the Hikmah, revealed to the Prophet (pbuh). It is this Hikmah which is the irritant to the sectarians who want to destroy the purity of Islam. Just as Allah and the messenger means Allah and the messenger (and not Allah and Allah, which would be redundant), Qur'an and Hikmah means Qur'an AND Hikmah (not Qur'an and Qur'an, which would be redundant.)
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2002-08-13 Tue 17:22ct