New Trend Magazine (www.newtrendmag.org)

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RAMADAN 19 and 20, 1424

ISLAM AND SLAVERY: WHAT DOES ISLAM DO ABOUT IT?

Islam is the antithesis of slavery. The greatest symbol of the destruction of slavery by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is BILAL the Ethiopian, r.a. In the days before Jihad, he was freed by peaceful means owing to the efforts of Abu Bakr, r.a. In the days after Jihad was ordained, Bilal, r.a., faced his former slave owner, Ummaya, on the FIELD OF BATTLE at Badr, pulled him down from his horse and killed him. That is the Islamic answer to slavery.

Owing to the influence of Bilal, Islam spread throughout Africa with lightening speed through peaceful means. The people of West Africa believed that Bilal, r.a., perhaps in spirit, had moved to Mali. [See the epic of SUNDIATA or Son-Jara.]
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GREAT ISLAMIC THINKERS OF MODERN TIMES: GLIMPSES

IQBAL: Martyrdom is the purpose and objective of the true believer's life.
MAUDOODI. Islam is a complete way of life. Its model is the life of the Prophet (pbuh).
SYED QUTB. Non-Islamic government cannot be accepted.
KHOMEINI. The masses, men, women, children can change history if they accept the Qur'an. America can do nothing against a mass moblized nation.
OMAR 'ABDEL RAHMAN: O People of Egypt! Rise up against the Pharoah! The Islamic revolution is coming. Jihad is a duty on every Muslim, male and female.
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THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
THE JEWS ARE IN PALESTINE NOT BY ANY RIGHT BUT BY ACT OF GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINIANS:

"Still ringing in my ears is the wailing of Arab women from the village of Jaony, now Rosh-Pina [a Jewish settlement in the Upper Galilee founded in 1882], on the day their families left to settle in the Golan, on the east side of the Jordan...The valley was filled with their lamentations. From time to time they stopped and kissed the rocks and the ground." [Original Sins. Reflections on the History of Zionism and Israel by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, 1992, p.73]
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2003-11-27 Thu 08:16ct