Content about Disaster

(IP) An international conference has been proposed and confirmed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss the crisis in Syria.  In April, Lavrov, working with the Iranian Foreign Minister, announced that both sides in the conflict were willing to talk; this is the preliminary which would once again set the stage for the Syrian government of Bashar Al Assad and the opposition coalition to discuss measures that would possibly bring to a halt fighting which has claimed thousands of lives.  Meanwhile, the violence and bloodshed continues.

In a series of seemingly contradictory events, the US, along with members of the UN General Assembly recently voted to ‘condemn’ the Al Assad government. Although the vote indicated a ‘yes’ majority of the Assembly to formally denounce the Syrian regime, the number of nations abstaining from voting their countries’ disapproval was substantial -  59, including  some Asian, African, and  Latin American countries.  ‘No’ votes came from China, Syria, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and others, including Russia, who termed the resolution ‘very harmful and destructive’ and lobbied against it, according to an InterPress News Service (IPS) report.

The reaction of the US and Britain to the report of UN human rights investigator Carla del Ponte that the rebel forces in Syria had used sarin gas, a deadly nerve-effecting chemical, was one which distanced them from the official findings of the UN investigator, whose questioning of doctors and  victims  resulted in ‘very strong, concrete evidence’ that opposition forces had used the chemical weapons.

The Syrian News Agency reported small numbers of civilian casualties in the past weeks and greater numbers of injuries; also, that Syrian forces prevailed against rebels in the recent fighting in al-Qseir and in the surrounding al-Wa'ar area in Homs, disarming dozens of explosive devices that had been planted in homes and public buildings.

Where does Halloween come from? Every year, on the evening of October 31st, millions of children across the world paint their faces, dress up in costumes, and go door-to-door collecting treats. The adults often decorate their houses with ghostly figures, carve scary faces on pumpkins, and put candles in them to create "Jack-O-Lanterns." Unfortunately, among the millions of North Americans indulging in this custom, many are also Muslims. This article will shed some light on the significance and origins of Halloween, and why Muslims and even others should not participate in it.

Origins of the Halloween Festival.

The ancient Celtic (Irish/Scottish/Welsh) festival called Samhain is considered by most historians and scholars to be the predecessor of what is now Halloween. Samhain was the New Year's Day of the pagan Celts. It was also the Day of the Dead, a time when it was believed that the souls of those who had died during the year were allowed access into the "land of the dead". Many traditional beliefs and customs associated with Samhain continue to be practiced today on the 31st of October. Most notable of these customs are the practice of leaving offerings of food and drink (now candy) to masked and costumed revelers, and the lighting of bonfires.

Elements of this festival were incorporated into the Christian festival of All Hallow's Eve, or Hallow-Even, the night preceding All Saint's (Hallows') Day. It is the glossing of the name Hallow- Even that has given us the name of Halloween. Until recent times, in some parts of  Europe, it was believed that on this night the dead walked amongst the living, and that witches and warlocks flew in their midst. In preparation for this, bonfires were built to ward off these malevolent spirits.

By the 19th century, witches' pranks were replaced by children's tricks. The spirits of Samhain, once believed to be wild and powerful, were now recognized as being evil. Devout Christians began rejecting this festival. They had discovered that the so-called gods, goddesses, and other spiritual beings of the pagan religions, were diabolical deceptions. The spiritual forces that people experienced during this festival were indeed real, but they were manifestations of the devil that misled people toward the worship of false idols. Thus, they rejected the customs associated with Halloween, including all representations of ghosts, vampires, and human skeletons - symbols of the dead, the devil and other malevolent and evil creatures. It must also be noted that, to this day, many Satan-worshippers consider the evening of October 31st to be their most sacred festival. And many devout Christians today continue to distance themselves from this pagan festival. Islam strongly forbids Muslims to follow the idol-worshippers or those who worship the devil. The Holy Last Messenger (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Him in Whose hands is my life, you are ordered to enjoin good and forbid evil, or else Allah will certainly afflict you with torments. Thereafter, even your du'a (supplications) will not be accepted." (Tirmithi).

From the Islamic standpoint, Halloween is one of the worst celebrations because of its origins and history. It is haraam (forbidden), even if there may be some seemingly good or harmless elements in those practices. As evidenced by a statement from the Holy Last Messenger (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) "Every innovation (in our religion) is misguidance, even if the people regard it as something good" (ad-Daarimee.). Although it may be argued that the celebration of Halloween today has nothing to do with devil-worship, it is still forbidden for Muslims to participate in it because it may lead to worshiping idols and devil-worship. Islam seeks to cleanse the Muslim of all immoral conducts and habits, and thus paving the way for the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah or the traditions of the Holy Last Messenger Muhammad (Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) to be the correct and pure source for original Islamic thought and behavior. A Muslim should be a model for others in faith and practice, behavior and moral character.

Some reasons behind certain Halloween traditions.

Most of the Halloween activities participated in today can be traced back to occult symbolism. For example: 1. Dressing up in costumes: This was done so that the spirits of the dead would not recognize people. The Druids would actually sacrifice animals and sometimes humans and dress in these animal skins. Wearing these clothes, they would engage in fortune-telling. Another explanation is that today, children who dress up represent these spirits. 2. Trick-or-treating: The Druids would go from house to house on October 31 and demand specific types of food. If their demands were not met, it was believed the people and their homes would be cursed with trouble, sickness and death. Prosperity was promised to those who generously donated. Today, when kids are offered treats by neighbors, this goes back to the time people would offer food to appease the spirits. 3. Jack-o'-lantern: This started off as a legend associated with a man of Irish origin named Jack who supposedly enjoyed playing pranks on the Devil. After his death, Jack did not go to Heaven or Hell and therefore, had to wander the earth carrying a lantern which gave him some light to see where he was going. Pumpkins that were hollowed out and had candles lighted inside did the job and they were also supposed to scare evil spirits away.

What to do on Halloween.

We have established, beyond doubt, that the celebration of Halloween is absolutely forbidden in Islam. It is haraam. The question arises as to what to do on this night. Muslim parents must not send their kids out "trick-or-treating" on Halloween night. Our children must be told why we do not celebrate Halloween. Most children are very receptive when taught with sincerity, and especially when shown in practice the joy of their own Islamic celebrations and traditions. In this regard, teach them about the two Islamic festivals of Eid, preferably, before these holidays is the perfect time to start preparing them for it.  It must also be mentioned that even Muslims who stay home and give out treats to those who come to their door are still participating in this festival. In order to avoid this, leave the front lights off and do not open the door. Educate your neighbors about our Islamic teachings. I was pleased to learn from Christian neighbors that they also are against the Celebration of Halloween for the above mentioned reasons. Inform them in advance that Muslims do not participate in Halloween, and explain the reasons why. They will respect your wishes, and you will gain respect in the process. "A person who calls another to guidance will be rewarded, as will the one who accepts the message." (Tirmithi).

Finally, we must remember that we are fully accountable to Allah for all of our actions and deeds. If, after knowing the Truth, we do not cease our un-Islamic practices, we risk the wrath of Allah as He, Himself warned us in the HolyQur'an: "Then let them beware who refuses the Messenger's order lest some trial befall them, or a grievous punishment be inflicted upon them!" (Holy Qur’an, 24:63). This is a serious matter and not to be taken lightly. And Allah knows best. May Allah guide us, help us stay on the right path, and save us from all deviations and innovations that will lead us into the fires of Hell. "Remind!  May reminding benefit the believers".

Nicaraguan Congressman Brooklyn Rivera, president of the National Assembly’s Commission on Indigenous and Afro-Descendant Affairs, warns that tensions between indigenous tribes and mestizo “colonists” has reached the boiling point following the recent assassination of Mayangna leader Charley Taylor. 

Taylor, a member of the Mayangna’s Sauni As territory, tucked deep in the forest of the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve, was killed April 24 while trying to defend his land from a group of mestizo invaders who had cleared a swath of 35 acres of precious hardwoods. Taylor’s death, which was denounced to the deaf ears of government last week in Managua, has reportedly triggered the mobilization of an indigenous army of 100 volunteers who are arming themselves to oust the interlopers by force. 

Rivera and other sources close to the Mayangna nation warn that members of the indigenous group are arming themselves with rifles, machetes, spears and other homemade weapons in preparation for battle. 

“This is a critical moment,” Rivera told The Nicaragua Dispatch this afternoon. “The colonists are promoting violence and the indigenous people are mobilizing groups to defend their land. There could be more bloodshed and more death.” 

The situation in Nicaragua’s “mining triangle” and the Mayangna community of Musuwas is particularly tense, according to Rivera. The Nicaragua Dispatch tried unsuccessfully to reach the leaders of the Mayangna rebellion, who apparently are already out of cell-phone range in the mountains of Bosawás. 

Sources close to the Mayangna leaders say the group felt forced to take justice into their own hands because the government is not enforcing laws that guarantee their communal property rights. And after failing to meet with President Daniel Ortega last February, the Mayangnas are apparently done asking nicely. 

Rivera, whose YATAMA indigenous party is an ally of the ruling Sandinista Front, blames government institutions of being “inert,” despite President Ortega’s effort to create a special commission to deal with the problem last month. 

“The president emitted a decree to create a mixed commission to defend Mother Nature in the indigenous territories, but that commission has never met so there is no political will on the behalf of government institutions,” Rivera charged. “The commission has become an accomplice to the colonists who are invading indigenous territories.”

Rivera defends Ortega’s decree, even though no indigenous groups were given representation on the commission. The problem, the YATAMA leader says, is that the various institutions charged with forming the commission “don’t work.” 

As a result of government inefficiency, indigenous leaders are becoming even more desperate to defend their land by any means possible, Rivera says. The lawmaker says 19 of 21 indigenous territories are currently “contaminated” with mestizo colonists, who invade the land, clear the trees, sell the hardwood, plant grass and then illegally flip the pastures to cattle farmers. More than 50% of the 21,000 square kilometers of Bosawás forest has been partially deforested, including 12% of the forest’s nucleus, according to Rivera. 

“These groups are pretending to be poor campesinos who need the land to plant food, but they are really land traffickers who are backed by some very powerful economic interests,” Rivera charged. 

Still, the Mayangna’s interest in the matter is even more powerful than money, Rivera says. 

“At the core, this struggle is about the survival of the indigenous people and their cultures,” Rivera said. “If the colonists continue to destroy the natural habitat, then the indigenous communities will also disappear because the colonists are destroying the flora and fauna and the rivers—all that the indigenous communities depend on to survive.” 

Writing News

As part of the Day of Press Freedom, there have surfaced several revelations about the internal management of the press in the United States.  This would be the case of the former reporter Amber Lyon, who revealed that during her work for CNN, she was ordered to send false news and exclude some that the U.S. government did not favor in order to create a public opinion in favor to launch an attack against Iran and Syria.

Lyon was quoted by a Slovak news website saying that the media mainstream in the  U.S. intentionally work to create propaganda against Iran to get the support of public opinion for a military invasion against the country. She revealed that the scenario used before the war against Iraq is really being repeated, where Iran and Syria are constantly “demonized”.

The journalist said that the manipulation and manufacture of CNN printed news and their broadcast news continues selectively, claiming that the channel receives money from the U.S. Government and governments of other countries in return for news content.

Lyon is an American investigative journalist who has become known for reporting on human rights abuses against pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain, and police brutality against demonstrators in the United States. In June 2010, she began working for CNN, where she investigated sex trafficking, the Gulf oil spill, and the hacking collective known as Anonymous.

Another clear sign that the U.S. media do not publish all the news in the US is the situation that is recorded at Guantanamo.The hunger strike of prisoners in the country’s north could be published in the press, but the mainstream media are not U.S. backers for this story, reports the Center for Constitutional Rights in the United States, in a note published by the Venezuelan newspaper Correo del Orinoco.

The agency says that 130 prisoners in Guantanamo went on hunger strike for about seven weeks to protest the treatment and conditions in this prison.  This is the same prison as U.S. President Barack Obama promised to close in 2010.

Recently,  Obama said he would resume efforts to achieve the green light from Congress to close the Guantanamo prison, which is considered expensive, ineffective and a recruiting tool for extremists.

The authorities, meanwhile, continue to question the figures and point out that only 26 prisoners go hungry, while another 8 are fed by force. However, when the international news network Russia Today broke the story on March 12, U.S. officials denied it.

“We heard that lawyers are not allowed to visit the prisoners. Moreover, there is a big difference between what they say and what the administration lawyers report.  It shows that the administration is still trying to silence the situation, they do not want to diffuse.  And it means something serious is happening, “said investigative journalist Andy Worthington.

When consulting people on the US streets about if they think the story should be covered by the U.S. media, the answer was unequivocally positive. Meanwhile CNN, the most powerful chain in the country, ignores the issue of the hunger strike and focuses on other aspects such as, for example, how much money will be used to renovate the facility.

“No one talks about it. If this happened in Russia, if people had disappeared into a black hole illegally in Russia and faced indefinite incarceration without trial or charges, without access or lawyers, Western media have been full of this issue, “said British MP George Galloway.

In the news business, the media have to set priorities and choose the stories that deserve your attention. It turns out that not only the voices of the silenced are starving prisoners, but also citizens are who are left confused after learning the truth, and they choose to focus on manufactured media content instead.

(IP) A group of Belgian lawmakers have proposed a bill that would deem Islamophobia a crime punishable by fines and/or imprisonment.  Six senators of the Belgian Parliament drafted the resolution that would  categorize a person who “ considers Islam to be violent, threatening or supportive of terrorism”or “considers Islam to be a political ideology used for political and military purposes to establish its hegemony” as an islamophobe, and liable for prosecution under this law, if passed.  Opponents of the bill say it would be a ‘devastating blow to free speech’ in Belgium.

The French-speaking region of southern Belgium known as Wallonia has officially assigned the four major Christian holidays (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and All Saints Day – known as Halloween in the US) secular names in a move that critics claim is catering to the atheistic views of the Socialists and the influence of the Muslim elements of its population.  Removal of religious paraphernalia and reference to religious holidays and practices by government and within government buildings and proceedings has rapidly proliferated globally, with pointed reforms taking place in the United States. Prayers are no longer said at the start of the school day in most public schools and events in efforts to avoid offending those who profess no religious persuasion.

The French Community of Belgium has jurisdiction over five provinces, including the Francophone population of Brussels, the Belgian capital and has adopted ‘a framework decree that formally establishes the new secularized names on the public school calendar in the interests of “administrative simplification”, according to a report by Soeren Kern on the RightSidenews.com website.  The Belgian French-language newspaper La Libre stated: “…school calendars  within Belgium's French speaking community will permanently use the following terminology: the Christian holiday previously known as All Saints Day (Congés de Toussaint) will now be referred to as Autumn Leave (Congé d'automne); Christmas Vacation (Vacances de Noël) is now Winter Vacation (Vacances d'hiver); Lenten Vacation (Congés de Carnaval) is now Rest and Relaxation Leave (Congé de détente); and Easter (Vacances de Pâques) is now Spring Vacation (Vacances de Printemps).”

Right-wing groups who are opposed to the proliferating multiculturalism in Belgium are criticizing the permanent holiday name changes, some accusing the government of attempting to ‘de-Christianize’ the traditional Christian holidays, the most vocal of which is the Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur, MR), an alliance of four center-right parties that together comprise the largest classical liberal political formation in French-speaking Belgium.  The MR fears that reforming the holiday names will facilitate the eventual introduction of Muslim holidays into the school and public calendars and cultural expression; the holiday name-change decree already provides Muslims with a waiver by which Islamic holidays will be recognized legally.

The mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans,  is a Socialist and more than half of the eleven council members are either Socialists or Muslims – or both.  The Council has moved to refrain from the display of any religious holiday décor in the city, and replaced some with modern art works to give the metropolis a more ‘avant – garde character’; although, according to the Brussels Nieuws, one Council member from the Christian Democratic and Flemish Party, Bianca Debaets,  argued that  it was the ‘religious sensitivities of the Muslims’ that prompted the display of the cubical ‘light’ sculpture in place of a religious-toned  display - a Christmas tree.

The efforts of making Belgium more ‘Islam-friendly’, however,  leaves many Muslims still feeling alienated from the greater Belgian society.  The article by Soeren Kern states: “According to a new survey of Muslim youth in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium, only 30% of Muslim males between the ages of 15 and 25 feel as though they are accepted by Flemish society. This figure drops to 25% for Muslim females in the same age group.”

“The survey, which was published by the daily newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen on April 19, shows that 60% of Muslim youth believe that they will never be integrated into Belgian society. One in three of those surveyed say that he or she has been discriminated against at school, and one in five say they have been discriminated against at work. More than 50% say they have been victims of racism. Although 93% of those surveyed have Belgian citizenship, 42% of them say they consider themselves to be foreigners.”

“The results are virtually unchanged from a similar survey conducted in 2005, and imply that years of government efforts to make Belgium more multicultural have done nothing to change the minds of Muslim youth.  According to the Flemish Minister for Integration, Geert Bourgeois, Muslim youth should work harder and complain less. "That so many young people feel discriminated against and do not feel accepted means that our society still has a lot of work to do. It's actually an 'us-them' story. We as a society can and should still make an extra effort, but conversely, Muslim youth should do more as well. Perhaps an inverted research shows that we just think that young Muslims do not belong because they do not want to belong," Bourgeois said.

According to the authors of the resolution, a person would be guilty of Islamophobia if he or she:

• Considers Islam to be a single monolithic bloc, closed and static, incapable of adapting to new situations;

• Considers Islam to be separate and "different," devoid of having any aims or shared values ​​with other cultures, not influenced by other cultures and not influencing other cultures;

• Considers Islam to be inferior to the West, to be barbaric, irrational, primitive and sexist;

• Considers Islam to be violent, threatening and supportive of terrorism, actively engaged in a 'clash of civilizations';

• Considers Islam to be a political ideology, used for political and military purposes to establish its hegemony;

• Rejects out of hand criticisms made by Islam of 'the West';

• Shows hostility towards Islam to justify discrimination and social exclusion of Muslims;

• Accepts hostility toward Muslims as natural and normal.

Mr. Kern states further:  “This definition of Islamophobia, which is based on a 1997 report published by the London-based Runnymede Trust, would effectively outlaw any critical discussion of Islam in Belgium [and label it as] ‘combating racism’.

The draft resolution has outraged free speech activists, who are demanding more public scrutiny of what they say is a "draconian" measure  that is contrary to liberal democratic values. But the sponsors of the text remain unapologetic.In an interview with the daily newspaper Le Soir, Senator Richard Miller from Wallonia accuses critics of the resolution of trying to make the draft text say things it does not say.”

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.

Be Proactive!

These things will prove to be helpful when done on a daily basis:

1.  Exercise in fresh air and walk at least one mile a day if possible.

2.  Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day.  If you live in a city you should use a water filter for your shower and drinking water faucets.  City water is contaminated.

3.   Hydro therapy is very helpful for diabetes.  A hot bath followed by a cool shower is very good to increase circulation; or a warm shower and cool rinse.  If you have the time, it really invigorates the system.

4.    A salt glow scrub is also good.  Take a medium to coarse salt mix, which can be made or purchased or use Epsom salts, and scrub yourself with it.  It helps to clean out the pores, and remove dead skin and excess poisons that regular soap and water miss. If you have high blood pressure, use clay instead.

5.    Reduce your meat intake to 2 or 3 times a week.  Meat such as beef, goat, beef fry, franks, and sausage, and all processed meat is hard to digest and stays in the colon too long. Nitrates take awhile to break down.

6.    Add high fiber foods to your diet, such as brown rice, bran flakes, wheat germ, wheat flour, barley, flax seed, almonds, black eyed peas, lentils, and sunflower seeds.

7.    Eat lots of green vegetables - red cabbage, okra and avocados are excellent for diabetes.

8.   Drink blueberry leaf tea, dandelion tea, or corn silk tea every day.

9.   Fasting twice a week is good for your system and it is the practice of our Blessed Nabi Karim, peace and blessings be upon him. Mondays and Thursdays is our sunnah.

10.  Remember - low fat/high fiber foods are best, and make sure your bowels are regular because when you have this disease toxins tend to linger in the body longer due to excess sugar in the system and cause morbid decay in the colon.

11.  Lemon and water first thing in the morning is a good cleanser for your system.

12.  Get as much rest and relaxation as you possibly can.  The body needs a chance to repair itself.

Take Control!

The following are things you should avoid as much as possible:

1.    Baking soda and all food that contains it are harmful to the pancreas.  It doesn’t allow your digestive juices to break down your food naturally. It also contains Aluminum, unless it is stated on the box that it does not - and Allah Knows best. Aluminum causes Alzheimer’s and poisons the blood.  You can purchase baking soda that doesn’t have aluminum in it at your health food store.

2.    Soda and all artificial drinks and fast foods are not good for you to eat at all.

3.   The 5 White Evils: white flour, white rice, white bread, white sugar and white milk (unless it is organic and in moderation).

4.   No white sugar - use stevia, a natural leaf that is as sweet as sugar, with no calories.  White sugar is a killer.  It is very bad for your system.

5.     Limit your eating of white rice, pasta, and potatoes.  These starches turn into sugar.

Invest in your health!

Supplements that are beneficial for diabetes are Glucomannan, liquid chlorophyll, potassium, calcium and magnesium, vitamins A, C, and E, and lecithin, which cleanses the bloodstream of plaque that eventually clogs the arteries.

Herbal cures include neem leaves, curry leaves, mango leaves, sweet potato leaves, amla leaves, barberry, fenugreek, bitter melon, onion and garlic.

When the Nigerian writer Nana Asma’u composed her elegiac portrait of the Prophet Muhammad in the early 1800’s, she did so in what remains West Africa’s predominant language: Hausa.

And when the 18th-century court poet Sayyid Aidarusi honored his master with an adaptation of the Arabic epic “Umm al-Qura,” he wrote in the prevailing tongue of some 50 million East Africans: Swahili.

While all three wrote in their native languages, the scripts they employed each bore a close resemblance to Arabic. They were using Africanized versions of the Arabic alphabet, collectively called “Ajami.”

Much as the Latin-based alphabet is used to write many languages, including English, Ajami is not a language itself, but the alphabetic script used to write a language: Arabic derived letters to write a non-Arabic—in this case, African—language.

“Ajami” derives from the Arabic a’jamiy, which means “foreigner” or, more specifically, “non-Arab.” Historically, Arabs used the word to refer to all things Persian or non-Arab. Yet, over the last few centuries, across Islamic Africa, “Ajami” came to mean an African language written in Arabic script that was often adapted phonetically to facilitate local usages and pronunciations across the continent, from the Ethiopian highlands in the east to the lush jungles of Sierra Leone in the west.

“The spread and development of Ajami is not, if you really look at it, different from the spread of Latin in Europe,” says Ngom. Latin “was a church language, but its letters were adopted for use in French, German, Spanish, English and other languages.”

Reading in Ajami, “you will learn, for the first time, how people of West Africa perceived themselves in local accounts of history, as opposed to colonial records,” Ngom suggests. Indeed, it has been his experience in his native Senegal that colonial-era French and Ajami sources each paint distinct pictures.

“It is like you are looking at two very different accounts of the same events through different pairs of eyes,” he says.

The story of Ajami is intertwined with the stories of how Islam came to Africa some 13 centuries ago and how European colonization followed a millennium later.

[However,] documents pertaining to uniquely African cultural traditions, arts and sciences were also more easily written in a script that could accommodate local vocabularies and pronunciations.

In colonial times, Ajami began running headlong into the Latin-based scripts of European languages imposed by colonial administrators who viewed Ajami as nonsense at best and a threat to their authority at worst.

“The French were very suspicious of this writing they couldn’t read,” says Jennifer Yanco, U.S. director of the West African Research Association. “A lot of libraries were burned. So the local people got wise, and they began hiding books within double walls of their mud-brick houses, or they hid them in caves.”

In Nigeria, the British governor general from 1914 to 1919, Sir Frederick Lugard, directed that Ajami and Arabic were both to be officially replaced by Hausa written in the Latin alphabet.  In the face of such cultural attacks, Ajami indeed became precisely what the colonial governments feared: a tool of resistance and reform.

The Terror Factory is a well-researched and fast-paced exposé of the dubious tactics the FBI has used in targeting Muslim Americans with sting operations since 2001. The book updates and expands upon Aaronson’s award-winning 2011 Mother Jones cover story “The Informants.” Most readers likely have heard about several alleged conspiracies to attack skyscrapers, synagogues, or subway stations, involving either individuals whom the FBI calls “lone wolves” or small cells that a credulous press has tagged with such sinister appellations as the Newburgh 4 or the Liberty City 7. But they may be astonished to learn that many of these frightening plots were almost entirely concocted and engineered by the FBI itself, using corrupt agent provocateurs who often posed a far more serious criminal threat than the dimwitted saps the investigations ultimately netted. 

In addition to offering leniency, if not forgiveness, for heinous crimes, the FBI pays these informants tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, creating a perverse incentive for them to ensnare dupes into terrorist plots. Aaronson quotes an FBI official defending this practice: “To catch the devil you have to go to hell.” 

Such an analysis might make sense when police leverage one criminal to gain information about more-serious criminal conspiracies—in other words, to catch a real “devil.” But Aaronson’s research reveals that the targets in most of these sting operations posed little real threat. They may have had a history of angry anti-government rhetoric, but they took no steps toward terrorist acts until they received encouragement and resources from government agents. 

Aaronson correctly takes pains to avoid portraying those caught in the stings as completely innocent of malice. But he demonstrates that they almost universally lack violent criminal histories or connections to real terrorist groups. Most important, while they may have talked about committing violent acts, they rarely had weapons of their own and, usually lacked the financial means to acquire them. Yet the government provided them with military hardware worth thousands of dollars that would be extremely difficult for even sophisticated criminal organizations to obtain, only to bust them in a staged finale. 

This aspect of Aaronson’s narrative is most troubling to me, as a former FBI agent who worked undercover in domestic terrorism investigations before 9/11. Prior to September 11, 2001, if an agent had suggested opening a terrorism case against someone who was not a member of a terrorist group, who had not attempted to acquire weapons, and who didn’t have the means to obtain them, he would have been gently encouraged to look for a more serious threat. An agent who suggested giving such a person a stinger missile or a car full of military-grade plastic explosives would have been sent to counseling. Yet in Aaronson’s telling, such techniques are now becoming commonplace. 

My concern is partly that the artificially inflated scale of the threats seem designed to overwhelm judges, jurors, and the general public, who might otherwise view such methods as illegal entrapment. The FBI often announces these arrests with great fanfare, highlighting the scope of the damage that could have been caused by weapons provided entirely by the government. Such pretrial publicity creates a climate of fear that is likely to influence judges and jurors. 

Even more unsettling is the flawed reasoning that drives the use of these methods. FBI agents have been inundated with bigoted training materials that falsely portray Arabs and Muslims as inherently violent. The FBI also has embraced an unfounded theory of “radicalization” that alleges a direct progression from adopting certain beliefs, or expressing opposition to U.S. policies, to becoming a terrorist. With such a skewed and biased view of the American Muslim community, the FBI’s strategy of “preemption, prevention, and disruption” results in abusive surveillance, targeting, and exploitation of innocent people based simply on their exercise of their First Amendment rights. 

Without reforms to FBI guidelines, anyone holding unorthodox views or challenging government policies could find himself targeted by overzealous federal agents using unscrupulous informants. The FBI should be investigating violent crime, not inventing it. 

    - Ecerpts from an article by Michael German of the ACLU                                                    

With the continuing destruction of holy Shrines in Libya and in Mali, one should ask:  who are these instigators bringing terror to the Muslims and Christians in East and West Africa, who is financing them and how did they come into existence?

For the past decade, the news has been filled with reports of tragic incidents happening in Muslim countries and acts of terror around the world perpetrated by so-called ‘Muslims’, to the point that it is not surprising that some people, ignorant of Islam and of its history, would have doubt that Islam is a religion of peace.

However,  the real news lies in observing how little the western media and the international press, in particular,  has done to expose the people that are behind the ‘ radicalization’ of the poor and the rise of extremism around the world, and it is necessary to educate its audience as to who are  the real victims of this violence and extremism. Why have so very few investigative journalists traced the ties between their governments and the financiers of world terrorism and oppression?  

The rising of radical extremism in Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan,  Libya, Mali and other African countries known for their tolerance and peaceful coexistence did not just happen in a day. Islam in Africa, as anywhere else in the world, was adopted by the people due to the impartial justice of its social and  legal systems and code of ethics - regardless of whether the parties involved in a dispute were wealthy or poor, man or woman, and no matter what religion they followed.

Islam’s message of peace and of unity to mankind as all being from the ‘children of Adam’ was spread by some of the most illustrious Sufis the world has known, such as Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio and his son Muhammed Bello in West Africa, Ahmad Tijan and Abdel Kader of Algeria in the North of Africa and southern Europe, Sufi Masters Ali Hujweri and Moinuddin Chisti in Asia - and may Almighty Allah be pleased with them all.. Even in recent times, the work of His Eminence Sheikh Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani and others on the American continent and in Europe are examples of how Islam is spread by love, compassion and good works, rather than violence and hatred.

No matter how distant the actions perpetrated by Wahabis in the name of Islam are to real Islam and sincere Muslims, the international press keeps branding the Wahhabi culprits as ‘Islamists’ and likening them and their actions to  Islam, while omitting the tragedies and suffering of the victims - who, in most instances, are Muslims. Former president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, alluded to this sobering fact during a CNN interview, when in response to a comment about Pakistan’s abridged efforts to pursue alleged ‘terrorists’, Mr. Musharraf replied with indignation that after the Pakistani people had suffered as the first and biggest  victims of acts of terrorism for so many years, why are Americans still doubting Pakistan’s intentions?

However, when it comes to the allies of the West, like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, against whom similar allegations of abated pursuit of so-called ‘terrorists’ have also been lodged, there is a complete silence from the media, even though their involvement in the actual sponsoring and assistance to radical groups is common knowledge. Iyad Ag Ali, the leader of the Salafi group ‘Ansardeen’, a previously unknown group that is causing mayhem and mischief in northern Mali, after being removed by ex- Malian president Amadou Toumani Toure as a member of Mali’s diplomatic staff in Jeddah for associating with proscribed extremist figures or groups in Saudi Arabia, was said to have visited Qatar. But little has been said about those links and no condemnation whatsoever has been heard from the countries that are involved the so-called ‘war on terror’. Why?

According to many in the Algerian press, Qatar’s objective has been to spread fanatical Wahabi ideology and destabilising the oil and gas-rich states as a means of gaining access to their resources. They see the situation in the North of Mali as being part of the larger narrative about the Arab uprisings, which presents Algeria as a bastion of stability being encircled by Islamist forces.

To prove the point of the influence of Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the north of Mali:  during the destruction of the shrines, Ban Ki Moon , the UN Secretary General called and requested help from Qatar and the Saudis, asking for their intervention instead of closer regional countries such as Morocco and Algeria, knowing fully the closer ties between them (Qatar and Saudi Arabia) and the extremists of Iyad Ag Ali and Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

It is a well known fact that for the past two decades Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Wahabi-prone regimes, with their Petro-dollars, have been financing radicalization and fanaticism in mosques and Muslim organisations of poor African countries. In poor countries like Mali,  the destruction of the education system  by the implementation of IMF/World Bank restructuring program has left the door wide opened for Wahhabi groups to provide financing for the indigent preachers and to give the population millions of free books promoting the extremist, unIslamic views of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahab.

It is hard for uneducated, impoverished  people  to comprehend the menace that the Wahabi presence creates until the reality is obvious.  At first, the people welcome them and  let them teach and do their preaching,  thinking they are propagating genuine Islamic doctrine. Much later, the unsuspecting hosts find out that  in the warped and devious Wahhabi perspective, they do not even consider some Muslims who oppose their flawed views as Muslim, and finally, the people become oppressed in their beliefs and in their practice of Islam. 

When visiting villages around the country, you can see how little people know about Wahhabis, their doctrine and  their history. As an example, in Timbuktu, a famous city known worldwide and especially in the Islamic world for religious knowledge, literature and learning, the people welcomed Ansardeen, who ally themselves with the AQIM, following the pillage of the city by some local Arabs and the MNLA (Mouvement National pour la Liberation de l’Azwad) rebels because they stopped the pillage and brought a little bit of security after the horror stories of raping and stealing of people properties. 

But a few weeks following the arrival of Ansardeen and AQIM, the reality was clear -  they recognized the vast contrast between their beliefs. Since the extremists took control of the city, locals are forbidden to sell or to read in public books such as Dalaaïl-lil-Khairat – which is a book praising Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).  In the major mosques of the city, the Wahhabi occupiers  threatened to remove the imams, and in one case, a threat was made on the life of an imam, if he did not stop making supplications in group after the five daily congregational prayers.

The population is living in fear and even to participate in circle of zikr – where Allah is  praised and glorified - they are forced to hide, fearing reprisal because according to the Wahhabis  this is an unacceptable innovation to their view of Islam, just as the building of shrines for some of the greatest scholars the country has known is deemed an innovation.

It is now as clear as day that  the Wahabis are at war against true Islam. At least for most of the residents in Timbuktu, it is tragically clear, and they question “how they are going to come and do their jihad here, when we are Muslim? Why don’t they go to convert non-Muslims instead and leave us alone?”  Finally they realize, “ Timbuktu has been invaded more than 16 times and will be free again. This is just a test from Allah.”

The rate of anti Muslim groups in the US has tripled from 10 in 2010 to 30 in 2011 and there have been over 800 incidents of violence, vandalism and arson against people believed to be Muslim, Arab or South Asian since September 11, 2001.

Approximately 43 percent pf Muslim Americans [56 percent - under the age of 30] reported experiencing a form of physical, verbal or institutional Islamophobia (2010-2011), as reported by The Muslim News.

This year’s Blessed month of Ramadan saw one of the largest spikes in Islamophobic incidents in the US in a decade. Many of which were committed by those whom identify themselves as Christians. However, many Christians have spoken up against these unlike Christian acts - saying they are fed up with Islamophobia despite the growth of hate mongers. The New Republic reports that within the past month, four separate campaigns have started to push back against extreme Christian voices and to preach a message of tolerance and love.

According to The New Republican, Sojourners, a community founded organization led by evangelical author and speaker Jim Wallis—responded to subway ads calling Muslims “savages” by purchasing space to post its own posters in the same subway stations. The message is simple: “Love Your Muslim Neighbors.” After the mosque attacks in Joplin and Toledo, Sojourners bought billboards in both communities to broadcast the same message. “It’s only an extremist fringe that would ever attack another religion’s place of worship in this country,” explained Sojourners spokesman Tim King to the Christian Post. “But unless we offer up an alternative voice, it will be the message and acts of extremists that most across the country and the world hear.”

Despite the latter endeavors of mischief, Allah has shown that verily He is in control by bringing people of the Abrahamic faiths together.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reports that a broad-based coalition of 127 organizations -- led by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Jewish Voices for Peace – DC Metro (JVP), and the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace (WIAMEP) -- sent a letter in early October to the Washington Area Metro Transit Authority (WMATA) expressing concern over advertisements now on display in DC-area metro stations sponsored by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a designated hate-group led by Pamela Geller.

Pamela Geller is recognized as being at the core of a group promoting intolerance of Muslims and Arabs in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that monitors the hate movement in the United States, calls her “the anti-Islam movement’s most visible and flamboyant figurehead.”

Geller’s subway ads also prompted a response from an interfaith coalition called Shoulder-to-Shoulder. The group worked closely with the United Methodist Women to produce a letter signed by 168 Washington-area clergy and religious organizations calling on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to donate any proceeds from Geller’s ads to charity. It also countered with its own Metro advertisement: “Hate speech is not civilized. Support peace in word and deed.”

Two other religious campaigns are focused on educating Americans—and particularly Christian communities—about Muslims and Islam. On October 11, the Interfaith Alliance led by Baptist minister Welton Gaddy, along with the Religious Freedom Education Project of the First Amendment Center, released a guide called “What is the Truth about American Muslims? Questions and Answers.” The online document addresses topics such as the role of mosques in Muslim life, whether U.S. courts can ever substitute religious law for civil law, and the meaning of Muslim words like “jihad” and “Taqiyya.”

In mid-October, the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a series of lectures, performances, and discussions called Understanding Islamophobia in America. Sponsored by the Muslim Students Association, in conjunction with the Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions and the Muslim-Jewish Volunteer Initiative. The aim of ‘Understanding Islamophobia in America’ was to counter negative stereotypes of Islam and Muslims, and to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of the Muslim community in the United States,” says Siddique Akram, president of the Muslim Students Association.

Efforts such as these that promote acts of interfaith and unity, that build bridges and close the gaps between the religions are often ignored by the media. The evil antics of Geller and Jones will make the front pages, while the efforts of Christians to push back against them will remain mostly exiled to the religion pages.

On the first day of the sacred month of Muharram,the first month of the Islamic calendar, the martyrdom of Hadhrat Umar ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), a blessed Companion of the Holy Last Messenger, peace and blessing be upon him, occurred.

From a large, prominent family of the Quraish,the ruling tribe of Mecca, he was born forty years before the Hijra,when the Muslim converts from Mecca migrated to Yathrib - a nearby city which embraced the ruthlessly persecuted new Muslims and their Divinely-inspired leader.

Hadhrat Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, was a literate man, with knowledge of the Holy Bible and able to speak Hebrew. He became a merchant, a popular occupation at that time, and his travels led him to Iraq, then part of the Persian Empire. For the first seven years of the mission of the Holy Rasul (peace and blessing be upon him) he was a sworn enemy of Islam, along with Abu Jahl. He would abuse anyone he thought had embraced it, believing that this new religion was creating an immense problem for the Quraish and deciding that the Holy Last Messenger Muhammad, peace be upon him, should be killed. When starting out to fulfil that realization, an acquaintance inquired, “Oh Umar, where are you going?” Ibn Al-Khattab replied, “Today I’m going to finish Rasulullah and then we shall have peace!” The person told him to first of all go to his sister’s house, as she and her husband already embraced Islam. Upon his arrival at the home of his sister, Hadhrat Umar heard the recitation of a portion of the new revelation from Allah Almighty, while standing outside of the door. Hearing his angry voice, the blessed text was immediately hidden and he was permitted inside. Enraged by his sister’s response to his query about what he had heard, and the confirmation that she and her husband had indeed become Muslims, Hadhrat Umar struck his sister, causing her mouth to bleed. However, it broke his heart to see her hurt and what is more - he knew that he must submit to the Truth that faced him and all of Quraish as well. He asked to see the text which had been recited; it read, “Everything in the heaven and on earth glorifies Him, and Allah is Almighty and All Wise.” Upon reading the sublime words, he started to shiver,having a feeling of being overpowered. He was not aware that on that very day, the Holy Last Messenger,peace be upon him, made a prayer to Almighty Allah petitioning, “Oh Allah, we are weak, give us strength by allowing Umar ibn Khattab or Abu Jahl to become Muslim.” The incident with his sister had caused Hadhrat Umar’s conversion from a state of disbelief to complete submission to Almighty Allah and unyielding loyalty to the Holy Last Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. He continued on to see the blessed person through whom the powerful words had been revealed. When the Holy Last Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was informed that Hadhrat Umar had come with his sword, Hadhrat Hamzah (Allah be pleased with them both), himself a passionate new Muslim said, “Let him come - I will kill him with his own sword!” Hadhrat Umar entered and immediately declared “I bear witness that there is no God save Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger(peace be upon him)!”.

Appropriately called by historians ‘Umar the Great’, he was the strongest man of Islam, a great statesman, and warrior. He became the second Khalifah, or successor after the Holy Last Messenger, peace be upon him, who stated, “Where Umar goes, Shaitan [the devil] runs away”, and who (upon him be peace) also attested ,“And had there been any messenger after me, Umar would have been a messenger, but there is no messenger after me.”

Hadhrat Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was not only a man to be feared, he was a loving father. Once he appointed a person governor. The Khalifa’s small son came and he picked him up, hugged and kissed him. The newly appointed governor asked, “You kiss your children?” Hadhrat Umar replied, “Yes and give me the paper.” He took the appointment paper from him, and requested him to leave, stating “If you do not have love, how can you rule people?”

Hadhrat Umar Ibn Khattab (Allah be pleased with him) ruled with unwavering justice, enforcing the edict that the poor and privileged, wealthy and weak, received equal treatment under the law of Islam. He was kind to anyone, including Christians and Jews.

He was the greatest conqueror of the world, bringing Persia, Syria and 2.2 million square miles of territory under the dominion of Islam. Regarding this extraordinary accomplishment, Hadhrat Umar (Allah be pleased with him), with a sense of devout humility, said, “It is because of Allah, [that ]victories are following, one after another.” Many of the countries conquered during the reign of Hadhrat Umar ibn Khattab, (may Allah be pleased with him)are under Islamic sway to this day, with many of the buildings still intact. Whereas, in Algeria, Iraq, Syria, Persia and the countries conquered by the Roman Empire, its buildings are in ruin or have vanished.

The United Nations is duty bound to take a keen interest in those people who are destroying and weakening America. These often unseen forces, this ‘hidden hand’, has aggressively entered preemptive wars, permitted spying on innocent citizens in places of worship, carried out torture, and secretly detained Muslims without benefit of charges. Furthermore, libel and slander are running rampant against Muslim leaders and organizations, while freedom of speech is manipulated to inhibit truth and encourage malicious lies in print and film designed to malign the peaceful religion of Al-Islam and the Holy Last Messenger, Muhammad (peace be upon him). Freedom of speech does not, and has not ever, granted permission to place another person’ life in danger and peril by instilling trauma and fear against a group.

Muslims have lived in harmony for hundreds of years alongside their brothers and sisters of other faiths and this tradition has been upheld by Muslims living in America in peace and prosperity. American Muslims love their country, love their religion, have respect for the law and the Constitution, and have done nothing to warrant this “war” against Islam. Muslims represent the fastest growing religion in America and expect, like Christian minorities living amicably in other countries for centuries, to be able to live without oppression and retaliation for matters not caused by them. Check history and we will see that Muslims did not push America into war in Iraq. Who were those in the American government who created the lie of “weapons of mass destruction”? Muslims did not push America to wage war in Afghanistan, but what of the elements within the American government that are known friends of the Saudi Arabia regimes who fund the Taliban and other non-Muslim wahabi factions. Thousands of American veterans have been killed with tens of thousands wounded to fight in senseless wars where millions of innocent civilians have perished. Whose enemy do they fight?

The extremist Zionist controlled-media has been used to deceive and manipulate the American people into believing that Muslims are enemies of Americans. This deception plays a large role in major historical events such as when Americans were deceived when led to believe there was a surprise attack on December 7, 1941 against Pearl Harbor. However, the truth has been revealed that there were those in the U.S. Government who were fully aware of the planned attack and used Pearl Harbor tragedy as an excuse to enter World War II. Most recently, history has repeated itself in the well-orchestrated 9/11 attack, blamed on Muslims within hours without any evidence, but as the truth prevails, it is found that the entire operation was a “false flag”. This terrible tragedy was orchestrated to bring about an immediate loss of civil liberties, thus launching a preemptive war; further deviating from the traditions set by the founding fathers of the United States of America.

President John F. Kennedy, in an address to the American press in 1961, warned of the dangers of what we see happening today in the American government with the aid of extremist Zionist controlled-media. The United Nations is duty-bound to take immediate action to prevent what Kennedy so astutely conveyed:

“The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are, as a people, inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it…. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment… For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence--on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.” (The President and the Press, April 27, 1961)

President John F. Kennedy was subsequently assassinated.

Secretary-General, in your recent address on United Nations Day 2012, you declared “The United Nations is a peacekeeper disarming fighters, a health worker distributing medicine, a relief team aiding refugees, a human rights expert helping deliver justice.” Today, justice is not being served in America; peace has been exchanged for war, human rights are being violated, Muslims in America are being persecuted through the use of media terrorism designed to incite fear and paranoia in the American people while igniting hatred between Christians and Muslims. The United Nations must protect the Muslims and call to account those who choose to violate law abiding, peace keeping citizens. Anywhere in world, Christians are fully protected with full freedom to practice the rites of their religion. America does not belong to any one religious group, but belongs to all who live here and Muslims should be granted those same freedoms without infringement.

Stop the media terrorists and hate groups that fund and support drunks, criminals and frauds to boisterously spout lies that only serve to bring about a clash between Muslims and Christians. It is known that Muslims believe in Jesus Son of Mary and accept the book he brought as a Holy book. The Holy Quran, which was burnt by so-called Pastor Terry Jones, actually contains five chapters of Jesus son of Mary and his blessed mother refuting lies against her and confirming that he was pious not illegitimate, but from his chaste mother. Jones and others like him are the socially rejected, the criminal, and the exiled who find ways to gain popularity and fortune at the expense of millions of Muslims living peacefully in America.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, recently produced the filthy film “Innocence of Muslims”, which flagrantly defamed the noble character of the Holy Last Messenger (peace be upon him), provoking riots, violence and deaths in several countries. Nakoula is a known felon who received money and support from many places and familiar anti-Islam faces to further his quest for fame and fortune. One of Nakoula’s supporters draws connection to Martin Mawyer, the drunkard and fraud who heads the Christian Action Network, who has found his fame and fortune by falsely accusing, then writing a book of lies about the community of The Muslims of the Americas (MOA), comprised of indigenous American Muslims living in rural, peaceful villages. Mawyer is attempting to provoke hysteria and fear in neighbors, friends and law enforcement to provoke violent actions against the Muslims of the Americas by falsely accusing the villages of housing bunkers and tanks while holding secret military training against their own countrymen - a ludicrous notion. In America, many religious minorities live in peace in their own villages and towns. American Muslims must be afforded the same rights without threat or incitement of fear.

These desperate individuals who lead the incitement of hate and violence had no jobs, no means of living, and were found as front men for these malicious attacks in exchange for popularity and fortune at the expense of Muslims who have committed no crime. As a peacekeeper in global affairs, the United Nations must act to preserve human life and stop the oppression that is being allowed to fester in the United States of America; even ignored in courts of law. Bring these men and others who follow suit, to justice for their crusade against Islam.