Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief ---------------------------------------------------------
Safar 17, 1426/March 28, 2005 #26
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THOUGHT OF THE DAY:

Even when the Israelis themselves admit the terrible crimes they are committing, U.S. TV outlets are too scared to report them.

"Between 3,000 and 5,000 women have been smuggled into Israel and sold into prostitution over the past four years, according to a Knesset committee investigative report examining the status of the sex trade in Israel."
[Source: Haaretz, Israeli publication.]
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CHRISTIANITY on THE RETREAT:

[New Trend's Media Monitor]

Late on Saturday night, March 26, just before Easter Sunday, CNN showed a lengthy production on Jesus [pbuh] based on apocryphal stories of his "possible relationship" with Mary Magdalene. Repeatedly CNN showed nude paintings [frontal nudity] of the woman Jesus [pbuh] saved.

If Christians can accept this kind of things even about Jesus, no wonder their entire system is easily manipulated by the Zionists. Nothing is sacred for this culture. It will be the task of Muslims to defend the honor of Jesus [pbuh].
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Saudis Are the Problem, not the Solution.
We Reject and Condemn Death Threats against Dr. Amina Wadud

by Kaukab Siddique

It's been brought to my attention that some Saudi religious figures have issued a Fatwa against Dr. Amina Abdul Wadud. It implies a death threat. Specific names of Saudi and Saudi-related religious figures are listed in the Fatwa.

Saudis should be the last to issue Fatwas. They are sitting on a lot of Haram [activities prohibited under Islamic Law.]. Their activities have made the lives of Muslim women difficult. Owing to their crass and ignorant view of Islam, Muslim women living in America have suffered, particularly those women who want to take part in Islamic work.

My dear departed friend Abdul Sattar al-Dahir pointed out the following to me during an ISNA convention. Br. Abdul Sattar said: "Look at these Saudis: They are claiming that the Hijab of some sisters is not complete. A few of their hair are showing, while the same Saudis are supporting the U.S. sanctions and moves against Iraq which have left more than half a million Iraqi children dead of a slow death."

Look at what the Saudi religious figures are sitting on.
They are silent about these: I urge the Saudis to back off. They have done serious harm to the cause of Islam.
Their views on women are a disgrace to Islam and to humanity. They have denied to Muslim women the rights which Allah and His messenger [pbuh] have given them. Their satanic activities must now stop. Do not try to target a Muslim woman in the hope that she is defenseless. Go stand against the Zionist Jews, if you dare.
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OPEN LETTER

Talking Directly to Dr. Amina Abdul Wadud.
Both Form and Content are Important in Islam: Breaking Tradition does not Bring Liberation

Asalamu alaikum dear sister:

I saw your photo in the New York Times. I noticed that you were wearing full hijab. Evidently you accept one of the formal aspects of Islam. You did not think it proper to pray in an informal western dress.

Also, I noticed that you were praying in a specific direction, the qibla of Islam.

I haven't heard the audio, but I am told that you did make two rakats for juma'. You did not pray three of four rakats. Again you accepted the FORMS designated by Islam.

And if I am not mistaken, you prayed in Arabic, not English.

Thus you do know that FORMS, the way something is done, are as important as what is done. Even the few people who were there would not have been there if you had been in a condition of semi-dress, praying in any direction you wished, making as many rakats as you wanted and praying in English.

You are under the illusion that if you stand in FRONT of men and women to lead them in prayer, you will liberate women and give them their rights. The fact is that you can be manipulated by men [and women working for the kuffar] even when you are standing in front of them. Look at the churches in America. Many of them have female pastors but has that helped America? Even the basic family structure is breaking down here. There are African-American female pastors aplenty. But where are the African-American men? Increasingly in prison.

In Afghanistan, the Americans claimed they had liberated the country. Afghan women living in America, who look more like Parisians than Afghans, were brought back by the U.S. all the way to Kabul to "liberate" Afghan women. The move failed. It was seen as the grossest possible insult by Afghan women.

Three and a half years later, Afghan women cling to the Burqa and are increasingly sending their sons to fight the Jihad against America. Karzai is only the ruler of Kabul.

I urge you to return to the Ummah. I know we have many problems. This Ummah is full of racial, national and gender chauvinism, but this is the only Ummah we have.

You might remember when I published my book The Struggle of Muslim Women in 1980, it was boycotted by both ISNA and ICNA who controlled most Muslims in America.
My book was supported on almost every page by direct quotes from the Qur'an and the authentic Hadith but the Saudi funded organizations would have none of it. They did not mention it, ever, even negatively in their publications. Alhamdulillah the book went through FOUR EDITIONS and has also been translated into Bangla and Indonesian languages. Just about every activist Islamic woman in America read it. It was then followed by my second book on the same theme titled LIBERATION OF WOMEN THRU ISLAM.

Within ten years after my first book, just about all the mosques in America opened their doors to Muslim women. Increasingly Muslim women are on the Boards and organizational aspects of the mosques. ISNA and ICNA are now just two groups among many other Muslim groups in America. They still hold conventions but people go there simply to socialize, not to accept the leadership of these funded groups.

The point I am making is that change must come from WITHIN the Ummah, not through slapping the Ummah in the face. We have to CHANGE PEOPLE's THINKING and not start changing Islam according to our wishes.

I urge you to come back. You are a very valuable part of this Ummah. Do not fall into the Zionist trap. Come back and speak against ALL OPPRESSION, including the oppression of women. Liberate the Muslim men so that they may in turn take women as their partners in struggle rather than as their inferiors.

Your current friends, the supporters of Bush's agenda for a "moderate Islam," are not opposing the holding of numerous innocent Muslims in U.S. prisons. You should meet the families of these prisoners and speak against the imprisonment of their men.

Iraq is burning. Falluja has been destroyed. Earlier, hundreds of Afghan villages were pulverized by the "heroic" U.S. air force. The women of Iraq and Afghanistan are crying out for deliverance. You need to help liberate them from U.S. occupation.

Above all, your Zionist friends, who gave you instant fame in the New York Times, the flagship of the Zionist establishment, have occupied Palestine and torn it asunder. Your leadership is needed to take Israel to task for genocide against the Palestinian people.

I pray to Allah that you will take my appeal seriously. You know how easily America produces fads, fashions and cults only to forget them completely as time goes on. If you do not return to the Ummah, within a few years, although you might establish an "Islamic Church of America," you will be merely a bad memory in the consciousness of the Muslim world.

Sincerely
Kaukab Siddique
Ameer
Jamaat al-Muslimeen
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The woman behind Dr. Amina Wadud?

Asra Nomani writes about Herself: Wall Street Journal, Tantric Sex, Daniel Pearl, Impregnated by Pakistani Boyfriend, Mixed gender prayer at Brandeis University

[Research by New Trend staff.]

In view of the rumors floating around on the Internet about Asra Nomani, the woman who helped organize the mixed gender prayer in New York, a New Trend supporter did some research and came up with this information. Our rule was that only the info Asra Nomani herself provides should be used.

Ms. Nomani has publicized herself quite heavily and she has received support from American circles. One of her interviews titled "Crossing Boundaries to Sexual Freedom" is posted on "beliefnet," a site which gives space to Muslims who speak against Islam. The interview is by Deborah Caldwell. Ms. Nomani also spoke to "Salon" and to Brandeis University news.

These are the basic facts Asra Nomani provides about herself : ----------------------------------------------------

Chess Icon Bobby Fischer Speaks Openly Against Bush & Israel

[Courtesy Associated Press]

Sitting in the first-class cabin whisking him away from nine months detention in Japan, chess icon Bobby Fischer launched a rambling diatribe against the United States, calling it "an illegitimate country" that should be given back to the American Indians.

The reclusive Fischer — who is taking up residence in Iceland to avoid arrest in the United States — also unleashed his anger at Israel and likened President Bush (news - web sites) to a comic book character.

Fischer said he was "kidnapped" in Japan, and that Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi were in cahoots trying to deprive him of freedom and return him to the United States, where he is wanted on criminal charges.

"Bush does not respect law," Fischer said in an interview with Associated Press Television News on board the SAS flight to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he had a stopover before being flown to Iceland, which this week granted him citizenship.

"It's like in the comics, like Billy Batson used to say 'Shazam!' and he becomes Captain Marvel. He (Bush) just says 'Enemy Combatant! Now you have no legal rights.' It's a farce," he said. "This is absolutely cooked up between Bush and Koizumi."

Fischer, wide-eyed and bushy-bearded after his months in detention, paused frequently to collect his thoughts. Wisps of hair were matted against his temples, and he once gulped deeply from a glass of milky liqueur before explaining why he felt his detention in Japan for using an invalid U.S. passport was illegal.

The eccentric chess genius was unusually expansive on the flight, unleashing his anger against two of his favorite targets: The U.S. government and Israel. He disclosed a world view that has him as the underdog besieged by a bullying America.

"The United States is an illegitimate country ... just like the bandit state of Israel — the Jews have no right to be there, it belongs to the Palestinians," said Fischer, whose mother was Jewish. "That country, the United States, belongs to the red man, the American Indian. ... It's actually a shame to be a so-called American because everybody living there is ... an invader."

He traced the origins of his troubled relationship with his homeland to his failed lawsuit in the 1970s against Time Inc., now Time-Warner, for defamation of character, breach of contract and other issues; a U.S. District Court threw it out as groundless.

"I got laughed out of court," he said. "This is when I began to realize what kind of a country America was then ... it's just a sham democracy. ... That's when I started to part company with the U.S."

Late Thursday, Fischer arrived in Iceland to accept an offer of citizenship from the country still grateful for its role as the site of his most famous match. In 1972 Fisher won his world championship victory over Russian Boris Spassky in the Cold War chess showdown that propelled Fischer to international stardom.

Fischer, 62, is wanted by the United States for violating sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia by playing an exhibition match there against Spassky in 1992.

He was detained by Japanese officials last July for using an invalid U.S. passport. Fischer claims the travel document was revoked illegally, and sued to block a deportation order to the United States.

Iceland's Parliament stepped in this week to break the standoff by giving Fischer citizenship. But Fischer is by no means in the clear, as Iceland, like Japan, has an extradition treaty with the United States.

Fischer denied he had been carrying an invalid passport in Japan and called Koizumi "a stooge."

"It's just my misfortune that this criminal idiot Koizumi ... (is) willing to do anything Bush tells him," said Fischer.

Asked whether he thought he might find U.S. authorities more tolerant of him if he toned down his rhetoric, Fischer said he was too old to change.

"I grew up with the concept of freedom of speech. I'm too old. It's too late for me to adjust to the new world, the new world order," he said with a chuckle.
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2005-03-28 Mon 19:09ct
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