Sunday, December 07, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The Political Framework of Islam
By Prof Khurshid Ahmad
The political system of Islam is based on the three principles of towhid (Oneness of Allah), risala (Prophethood) and Khilifa (Caliphate).
Towhid means that one Allah alone is the Creator, Sustainer and Master of the universe and of all that exists in it - organic
or inorganic. He alone has the right to command or forbid. Worship and obedience are due to Him alone. No aspect of life in all its multifarious forms ¾ our own organs and faculties, the apparent control which we have over physical objects or the objects themselves ¾ has been created or a acquired by us in our own right. They are the bountiful provisions of Allah and have been bestowed on us by Him alone.
Hence, it is not for us to decide the aim and purpose of our existence or to set the limits of our worldly authority; nor does anyone else have the right to make these decisions for us. This right rests only with Allah. This principle of the Oneness of Allah makes meaningless the concept of the legal and political sovereignty of human beings. No individual, family, class or race can set themselves above Allah. Allah alone is the Ruler and His commandments constitute the law of Islam.
Risala is the medium through which we receive the law of Allah. We have received two things from this source: the Qur'an, the book in which Allah has expounded His law, and the authoritative interpretation and exemplification of that Book by the Prophet Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him), through word and deed, in his capacity as the representative of Allah. The Qur'an laid down the broad principles on which human life should be based and the Prophet of Allah, in accordance with these principles, established a model system of Islamic life. The combination of these two elements is called the shari'a (law).
Khilifa means "representation". Man, according to Islam, is the representative of Allah on earth, His vice-gerent; that is to say, by virtue of the powers delegated to him by Allah, and within the limits prescribed, he is required to exercise Divine authority.
To illustrate what this means, let us take the case of an estate of yours which someone else has been appointed to administer on your behalf. Four conditions invariably obtain: First, the real ownership of the estate remains vested in you and not in the administrator; secondly, he administers your property directly in accordance with your instructions; thirdly, he exercises is authority within the limits prescribed by you; and fourthly, in the administration of the trust he executes your will and fulfills your intentions and not his own. Any representative who does not fulfill these four conditions will be abusing his authority and breaking the covenant which was implied in the concept of "representation".
This is exactly what Islam means when it affirms that man is the representative (khalifa) of Allah on earth. Hence, these four conditions are also involved in the concept of Khalifa. The state that is established in accordance with this political theory will in fact be a caliphate under the sovereignty of Allah.
More @ http://www.islamawareness.net/Politics/framework.html
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Local Chinese governments impose rules for Ramadan
BEIJING
Local governments in a Muslim desert region in western China have imposed strict limits on religious practices during the traditional Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began last week, according to the Web sites of four of those governments.
The rules include prohibiting women from wearing veils and men from growing beards, as well as barring government officials from observing Ramadan. One town, Yingmaili, mandates that local officials check up on mosques at least twice a week during Ramadan.
The local governments administer areas in the western part of Xinjiang, a vast autonomous region that is home to the Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic people who often chafe under rule by the ethnic Han Chinese.
In August, a wave of attacks swept through Xinjiang, the largest surge of violence in the region in years. Some local officials blamed the instability on separatist groups, and the central government dispatched security forces to the area.
The limits on religious practices put in place by the local governments appear to be part of the broader security crackdown. The areas affected by the new rules are near Kuqa, a town struck by multiple bombings on Aug. 10.
The Web site of the town of Yingmaili lists nine rules put in place to "maintain stability during Ramadan."
They include:
1. Barring teachers from observing Ramadan
2. Barring students from observing Ramadan
3. Prohibiting retired government officials from entering mosques
4. Requiring men to shave off beards
5. Requiring women to take off veils
6. Mosques may not let people from outside the town stay overnight
7. Restaurants must maintain normal hours of business. (Many restaurants close during daytime hours over Ramadan because of the fasting, which is supposed to last from sunrise to sunset. Muslims observing Ramadan typically eat substantial meals at night.)
In nearby Xinhe County, the government has decreed that Communist Party members, civil servants and retired officials not observe Ramadan, enter mosques or take part in any religious activities during the month. Worshipers cannot make pilgrimages to tombs, so as to "avoid any group event that might harm social stability," according to the Xinhe government's Web site.
In addition, children and students cannot be forced to attend religious activities, and women cannot be forced to wear veils.
County rules also stress the need to maintain a strict watch over migrant workers and visitors from outside. Companies and families who have workers or visitors from outside the county are required to register the outsiders with the nearest police station and have the outsiders sign an agreement "on maintaining social stability."
Some of those rules are similar to ones implemented in Beijing just before the Olympic Games started in early August.
Shayar County, which includes the town of Yingmaili, said on its Web site that migrants must register with the police, and that any missionary work by outsiders is banned. (Even outside Ramadan, China is wary of missionaries doing any kind of work in the country.)
The city of Artux is also preventing its teachers and students from observing Ramadan. As a result, schools have to keep serving food and water, city authorities said. As with the other governments, the overall goal is "to maintain social stability during Ramadan."
In some parts of the world, militants see Ramadan as a good time to carry out attacks because they believe achieving martyrdom during the holy fasting month is an especially sacred act. But the Chinese government has not presented any evidence showing that separatists in Xinjiang might do that this year.
Huang Yuanxi contributed research.
http://www.iht..com/articles/2008/09/08/asia/ramadan.php
Friday, September 05, 2008
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Behind the Surge in Iraqi Women Suicide Bombers
While overall levels of violence in Iraq have significantly dropped from their peak in 2006, every day seems to bring news of yet another ghastly suicide bombing, only now the bomber often comes in a black abaya, the full-length robe worn by many Iraqi women. For the one deadly number that has risen substantially since the U.S. military "surge" and widely touted adoption of a new "hearts and minds" counterinsurgency strategy in early 2007 has been the dramatic increase in suicide bombings carried out by Iraqi women.
According to U.S. military figures, women were bombers in only a few dozen attacks before 2007. But since then, at least 35 women have carried out suicide bombings, 8 in 2007 and at least 27 suicide bombings so far in 2008 alone.
These attacks include two women carrying out a double suicide bombing in a pet market in Baghdad that killed 73 Iraqis; a suicide attack on a wedding procession by a woman posing as an expectant mother; and a shocking attack by a woman bomber on an exuberant crowd celebrating the victory of the Iraqi national soccer team, killing over 29 Iraqis. More recently, three women undertook a triple suicide attack against Shi'a pilgrims at Baghdad shrine killing 25, while another woman detonated herself amidst a crowd of protesting Kurds in Kirkuk, all on the same day.
The escalation in female suicide bombings across Iraq has led to a flurry of media efforts to identify a specifically gender based motivation for this increase, resulting in a bewildering array of psychological and cultural explanations about what is allegedly driving the "mind of the female bomber." The rise in Iraqi women bombers, we have been told, is the result of depression, despair, revenge, cultural subordination to men, sexual abuse, and a host of other factors largely attributed to their gender. For example, a long New York Times article alleged that most women suicide bombers suffer from depression or a lack of purpose in the wake of a male family member's loss, whether due to death or detention by the U.S. military. The article also referred to the influence of "oriental culture" and sexual abuse on women's choices, suggesting that the subordinate role of Sunni women in rural conservative families is what drew them to undertake suicide attacks.
The relentless search for a gender-based explanation to account for the increase in Iraqi women bombers, however, is fatally flawed for two important reasons.
In the first place, the journalistic search for a gender-based motivation for Iraqi women suicide bombers has done little more than illustrate that there is simply no single demographic or psychological profile for these female bombers. According to various accounts, some are single and some are married, and while some have expressed depression over lost loved ones or relatives, others have simply expressed a desire for revenge, and still others have expressed strong nationalist or religious reasons for taking such desperate actions against a foreign occupier.
Such diverse motivations among Iraqi women bombers affirms the growing consensus among scholars of suicide bombings more generally that there is simply no single profile for suicide bombers of any gender, except for the fact that suicide bombings are largely undertaken in a context of foreign military occupation, where the primary individual motivation for both men and women suicide bombers is opposition to occupation combined with a variety of personal grievances. While pointing out that "95 percent of female suicide attacks occurred within the context of a military campaign against occupying forces," one student of women suicide bombings, Lindsey O'Rourke, concluded in a largely corrective op-ed in the New York Times that "the main motives and circumstances that drive female suicide attackers are quite similar to those that drive men."
But secondly, and more importantly, the search a gender-based motivation for women suicide bombers ultimately tells us very little about why there has been such a dramatic upsurge in Iraqi women suicide bombings now, and only since the U.S. military adopted its "surge" strategy in 2007. The question of timing and context is paramount. It is highly doubtful that Iraqi women only began confronting depression or despair over lost family members, let alone conservative cultural norms, after 2007.
A Tactical Shift
Recent scholarship on suicide bombings has clearly demonstrated that focusing narrowly on the supply-side of suicide bombing – the motivation and psychology of individual bombers themselves – tells us very little about when and why they happen. The University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape, in his highly regarded book Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, contends that suicide bombing "is mainly a demand-driven, not a supply-limited, phenomenon." Suicide bombings are primarily organizational acts of violence driven by the demands of strategic and tactical opportunity in the context of asymmetric warfare against foreign military occupation. Without organizations, aggrieved or distressed individuals cannot act out their violence in a sustained manner. And without acutely asymmetrical foreign occupation, organizations would not have the strategic incentive to find ways to surmount their militarily superior opponents through unconventional weapons like suicide bombings.
Thus, a focus on the demand-side of Iraqi suicide bombing points to an obvious conclusion largely overlooked in the narrow focus on the psychology of the female bomber: the rise in Iraqi female suicide bombers since 2007 is primarily a tactical innovation by Sunni-based Iraqi insurgent organizations in response to the recent tactical shifts of American occupation forces. It is tactical allure and strategic context, not psychology or culture, that best explains the rise in Iraqi women bombers.
The tactical desirability of using women suicide bombers in Iraq by insurgent groups is largely a demand driven response to the central tactical feature of the new U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq drawn up by General David Petreaus and implemented in 2007: the erection of massive concrete walls, razor wire fences and checkpoints that have enclosed Iraqi neighborhoods and towns within tightly controlled enclaves. In Baghdad alone, 12-foot-high walls now separate and surround at least eleven Sunni and Shiite enclaves. Broken by narrow checkpoints where soldiers monitor traffic via newly issued ID cards, these walls and checkpoints have turned Baghdad and Iraq more generally into dozens of replica Green Zones, dividing neighbor from neighbor and choking off normal commerce and communications.
Hence, like Palestinians, Lebanese, Chechens, and even the Algerians before them who all faced similar counterinsurgency tactics by occupying powers to dramatically restrict and control population circulation, Iraqi insurgent groups are now increasingly using women to evade detection and deliver their deadly ordinance. The insurgents are clearly learning to navigate the new human terrain. One need only recall the famous scene of Algerian women altering their attire to plant bombs among French colons in the astonishingly prescient 1966 film "The Battle of Algiers" to understand the historical precedents.
On one level, the impetus for insurgent groups to recruit women bombers, and the increasing use of suicide belted bombers on foot more generally, arises from the fact that the labyrinthine array of blast walls and checkpoints have made it more difficult for insurgents to assemble and deliver larger bombs, especially those that previously had been packed into cars and vans and detonated in public areas. In early 2008, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the incoming commander of US-led multinational forces in Baghdad, self-servingly warned against precisely this development. "I think al-Qaeda has discovered that because a great job as been done, they just cannot drive their VBIEDs [vehicle-borne improvised explosive devises] like they used to ... we see an adjustment that is the suicide vest attack."
But more specifically, the deployment of women bombers is also the product of the tactical demand for the need to evade the ever more invasive presence of checkpoints and body-searches across Iraq because women can hide the bombs under robes and can take advantage of less-stringent security protocols for women at checkpoints. "Women have the tactical advantage of evading arrest, of disguising the bomb," said Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC) analyst Will Hartley.
In response, the U.S. occupation authorities are now seeking to match this tactical innovation with some of their own. The U.S. military has created a program called the "Daughters of Iraq," analogous to the new U.S. backed self-defense militias known as "Sons of Iraq," across the Sunni regions of the country in order to train Iraqi women to conduct searches of other Iraqi women. Nevertheless, even in the recent triple suicide bombing attack on Shia pilgrims in Baghdad, the deployment of 200 policewomen to conduct body searches of all female pilgrims entering the Khadmiya shrine still failed to prevent the grisly attack.
The desperate search by the U.S. military for new tactical responses to the rise in Iraqi women bombers, however, only underscores more fundamental strategic and political problems with the "surge" and U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq at this time.
Iraq is unquestionably the world's leader in suicide bombings, with over 1,000 estimated suicide bombings having taken place since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to both U.S. military and independent sources. Yet prior to 2007, a great number of these bombers were foreign born, smuggled in through safe houses across Iraq's porous borders from destinations throughout the Middle East.
Yet the dramatic rise in Iraqi female suicide bombers indicates the increasingly indigenous and undeniably home-grown nature of these attacks, portending a new phase in the insurgency. U.S. military officials and various terrorism "experts" continuously stress that the rise in women bombers simply illustrates the desperation of insurgents in the face of a successful U.S. counterinsurgency strategy. Yet the story of desperation is hard to square with the fact that overall levels of suicide bombings in Iraq in 2008, whether by men or women, is also on the increase: there has been an average of 18 suicide attacks a month in Iraq in 2008 compared to 10 a month in 2007, according to a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad in April, 2008.
Thus, one can argue that the rise in Iraqi female suicide bombers demonstrates that the military "surge" has done little to tamp down the most fundamental demand-driven aspect of suicide bombing, namely a threatening foreign occupation with no end in sight.
As Robert Pape has argued, since the root cause of suicide bombing is foreign military occupation, offensive military action against insurgent organizations that employ suicide bombing and even improved counterinsurgency measures will mean very little unless the U.S. addresses the fundamental issue of foreign military occupation itself. The pioneer of modern suicide bombings, Hezbollah, only ceased suicide bombings when Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon in 2000 and Palestinian militant organizations have largely ended their use of suicide bombings since Israel withdrew its occupation forces and settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005, despite the fact that Gaza is still under an intensive Israeli siege.
The rise in Iraqi female suicide bombers ultimately illustrates the hollow nature of the widely touted U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq; at best, it is simply a set of short-term pacification tactics that has simply enclosed Iraq within miles of blast walls and razor wire, but it remains a failure politically. In this respect, despite important reductions in violence one must conclude that the military surge of 2007 has been a failure at the most important level. According to the newly minted U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, to lose politically is to lose. The U.S. is no closer to success in Iraq than it was before the surge – and even the security progress that exists is extremely fragile and reversible, because it has not been matched by any significant political progress.
In the end, it is the foreign occupier's inability to control terrorism and violence, which requires the political control and compliance of most of the population that is the central problem in Iraq. The tactic of suicide bombings cannot win wars or drive out a foreign occupation, no matter how innovative or vicious, but they can create a sense of fear, uncertainty and doubt among a battered populace so that the efforts by state authorities or U.S. forces to win them over is increasingly futile and distant.
The war can and will last as long as the insurgents don't run out of potential bombers and innovative tactics, and above all else, the motivation to fight for their cause. As long as the U.S. remains in Iraq with troops on the ground, this is not likely to happen.
Dr. Steve Niva is a professor of Middle East Studies and International Politics at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and is a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus. He is currently writing a book on the relationship between Israeli military violence and Palestinian suicide bombings.
According to U.S. military figures, women were bombers in only a few dozen attacks before 2007. But since then, at least 35 women have carried out suicide bombings, 8 in 2007 and at least 27 suicide bombings so far in 2008 alone.
These attacks include two women carrying out a double suicide bombing in a pet market in Baghdad that killed 73 Iraqis; a suicide attack on a wedding procession by a woman posing as an expectant mother; and a shocking attack by a woman bomber on an exuberant crowd celebrating the victory of the Iraqi national soccer team, killing over 29 Iraqis. More recently, three women undertook a triple suicide attack against Shi'a pilgrims at Baghdad shrine killing 25, while another woman detonated herself amidst a crowd of protesting Kurds in Kirkuk, all on the same day.
The escalation in female suicide bombings across Iraq has led to a flurry of media efforts to identify a specifically gender based motivation for this increase, resulting in a bewildering array of psychological and cultural explanations about what is allegedly driving the "mind of the female bomber." The rise in Iraqi women bombers, we have been told, is the result of depression, despair, revenge, cultural subordination to men, sexual abuse, and a host of other factors largely attributed to their gender. For example, a long New York Times article alleged that most women suicide bombers suffer from depression or a lack of purpose in the wake of a male family member's loss, whether due to death or detention by the U.S. military. The article also referred to the influence of "oriental culture" and sexual abuse on women's choices, suggesting that the subordinate role of Sunni women in rural conservative families is what drew them to undertake suicide attacks.
The relentless search for a gender-based explanation to account for the increase in Iraqi women bombers, however, is fatally flawed for two important reasons.
In the first place, the journalistic search for a gender-based motivation for Iraqi women suicide bombers has done little more than illustrate that there is simply no single demographic or psychological profile for these female bombers. According to various accounts, some are single and some are married, and while some have expressed depression over lost loved ones or relatives, others have simply expressed a desire for revenge, and still others have expressed strong nationalist or religious reasons for taking such desperate actions against a foreign occupier.
Such diverse motivations among Iraqi women bombers affirms the growing consensus among scholars of suicide bombings more generally that there is simply no single profile for suicide bombers of any gender, except for the fact that suicide bombings are largely undertaken in a context of foreign military occupation, where the primary individual motivation for both men and women suicide bombers is opposition to occupation combined with a variety of personal grievances. While pointing out that "95 percent of female suicide attacks occurred within the context of a military campaign against occupying forces," one student of women suicide bombings, Lindsey O'Rourke, concluded in a largely corrective op-ed in the New York Times that "the main motives and circumstances that drive female suicide attackers are quite similar to those that drive men."
But secondly, and more importantly, the search a gender-based motivation for women suicide bombers ultimately tells us very little about why there has been such a dramatic upsurge in Iraqi women suicide bombings now, and only since the U.S. military adopted its "surge" strategy in 2007. The question of timing and context is paramount. It is highly doubtful that Iraqi women only began confronting depression or despair over lost family members, let alone conservative cultural norms, after 2007.
A Tactical Shift
Recent scholarship on suicide bombings has clearly demonstrated that focusing narrowly on the supply-side of suicide bombing – the motivation and psychology of individual bombers themselves – tells us very little about when and why they happen. The University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape, in his highly regarded book Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, contends that suicide bombing "is mainly a demand-driven, not a supply-limited, phenomenon." Suicide bombings are primarily organizational acts of violence driven by the demands of strategic and tactical opportunity in the context of asymmetric warfare against foreign military occupation. Without organizations, aggrieved or distressed individuals cannot act out their violence in a sustained manner. And without acutely asymmetrical foreign occupation, organizations would not have the strategic incentive to find ways to surmount their militarily superior opponents through unconventional weapons like suicide bombings.
Thus, a focus on the demand-side of Iraqi suicide bombing points to an obvious conclusion largely overlooked in the narrow focus on the psychology of the female bomber: the rise in Iraqi female suicide bombers since 2007 is primarily a tactical innovation by Sunni-based Iraqi insurgent organizations in response to the recent tactical shifts of American occupation forces. It is tactical allure and strategic context, not psychology or culture, that best explains the rise in Iraqi women bombers.
The tactical desirability of using women suicide bombers in Iraq by insurgent groups is largely a demand driven response to the central tactical feature of the new U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq drawn up by General David Petreaus and implemented in 2007: the erection of massive concrete walls, razor wire fences and checkpoints that have enclosed Iraqi neighborhoods and towns within tightly controlled enclaves. In Baghdad alone, 12-foot-high walls now separate and surround at least eleven Sunni and Shiite enclaves. Broken by narrow checkpoints where soldiers monitor traffic via newly issued ID cards, these walls and checkpoints have turned Baghdad and Iraq more generally into dozens of replica Green Zones, dividing neighbor from neighbor and choking off normal commerce and communications.
Hence, like Palestinians, Lebanese, Chechens, and even the Algerians before them who all faced similar counterinsurgency tactics by occupying powers to dramatically restrict and control population circulation, Iraqi insurgent groups are now increasingly using women to evade detection and deliver their deadly ordinance. The insurgents are clearly learning to navigate the new human terrain. One need only recall the famous scene of Algerian women altering their attire to plant bombs among French colons in the astonishingly prescient 1966 film "The Battle of Algiers" to understand the historical precedents.
On one level, the impetus for insurgent groups to recruit women bombers, and the increasing use of suicide belted bombers on foot more generally, arises from the fact that the labyrinthine array of blast walls and checkpoints have made it more difficult for insurgents to assemble and deliver larger bombs, especially those that previously had been packed into cars and vans and detonated in public areas. In early 2008, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the incoming commander of US-led multinational forces in Baghdad, self-servingly warned against precisely this development. "I think al-Qaeda has discovered that because a great job as been done, they just cannot drive their VBIEDs [vehicle-borne improvised explosive devises] like they used to ... we see an adjustment that is the suicide vest attack."
But more specifically, the deployment of women bombers is also the product of the tactical demand for the need to evade the ever more invasive presence of checkpoints and body-searches across Iraq because women can hide the bombs under robes and can take advantage of less-stringent security protocols for women at checkpoints. "Women have the tactical advantage of evading arrest, of disguising the bomb," said Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC) analyst Will Hartley.
In response, the U.S. occupation authorities are now seeking to match this tactical innovation with some of their own. The U.S. military has created a program called the "Daughters of Iraq," analogous to the new U.S. backed self-defense militias known as "Sons of Iraq," across the Sunni regions of the country in order to train Iraqi women to conduct searches of other Iraqi women. Nevertheless, even in the recent triple suicide bombing attack on Shia pilgrims in Baghdad, the deployment of 200 policewomen to conduct body searches of all female pilgrims entering the Khadmiya shrine still failed to prevent the grisly attack.
The desperate search by the U.S. military for new tactical responses to the rise in Iraqi women bombers, however, only underscores more fundamental strategic and political problems with the "surge" and U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq at this time.
Iraq is unquestionably the world's leader in suicide bombings, with over 1,000 estimated suicide bombings having taken place since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to both U.S. military and independent sources. Yet prior to 2007, a great number of these bombers were foreign born, smuggled in through safe houses across Iraq's porous borders from destinations throughout the Middle East.
Yet the dramatic rise in Iraqi female suicide bombers indicates the increasingly indigenous and undeniably home-grown nature of these attacks, portending a new phase in the insurgency. U.S. military officials and various terrorism "experts" continuously stress that the rise in women bombers simply illustrates the desperation of insurgents in the face of a successful U.S. counterinsurgency strategy. Yet the story of desperation is hard to square with the fact that overall levels of suicide bombings in Iraq in 2008, whether by men or women, is also on the increase: there has been an average of 18 suicide attacks a month in Iraq in 2008 compared to 10 a month in 2007, according to a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad in April, 2008.
Thus, one can argue that the rise in Iraqi female suicide bombers demonstrates that the military "surge" has done little to tamp down the most fundamental demand-driven aspect of suicide bombing, namely a threatening foreign occupation with no end in sight.
As Robert Pape has argued, since the root cause of suicide bombing is foreign military occupation, offensive military action against insurgent organizations that employ suicide bombing and even improved counterinsurgency measures will mean very little unless the U.S. addresses the fundamental issue of foreign military occupation itself. The pioneer of modern suicide bombings, Hezbollah, only ceased suicide bombings when Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon in 2000 and Palestinian militant organizations have largely ended their use of suicide bombings since Israel withdrew its occupation forces and settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005, despite the fact that Gaza is still under an intensive Israeli siege.
The rise in Iraqi female suicide bombers ultimately illustrates the hollow nature of the widely touted U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq; at best, it is simply a set of short-term pacification tactics that has simply enclosed Iraq within miles of blast walls and razor wire, but it remains a failure politically. In this respect, despite important reductions in violence one must conclude that the military surge of 2007 has been a failure at the most important level. According to the newly minted U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, to lose politically is to lose. The U.S. is no closer to success in Iraq than it was before the surge – and even the security progress that exists is extremely fragile and reversible, because it has not been matched by any significant political progress.
In the end, it is the foreign occupier's inability to control terrorism and violence, which requires the political control and compliance of most of the population that is the central problem in Iraq. The tactic of suicide bombings cannot win wars or drive out a foreign occupation, no matter how innovative or vicious, but they can create a sense of fear, uncertainty and doubt among a battered populace so that the efforts by state authorities or U.S. forces to win them over is increasingly futile and distant.
The war can and will last as long as the insurgents don't run out of potential bombers and innovative tactics, and above all else, the motivation to fight for their cause. As long as the U.S. remains in Iraq with troops on the ground, this is not likely to happen.
Dr. Steve Niva is a professor of Middle East Studies and International Politics at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and is a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus. He is currently writing a book on the relationship between Israeli military violence and Palestinian suicide bombings.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Al-Istighfaar (Asking Forgiveness)
Al-Istighfaar (Asking Forgiveness)
ibn Taymiyyah Rahimahullaah
Majmoo al-Fataawaa 10/88-90
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
{{The master of invocations for forgiveness is that the servant says:
O' my 'ilâh You are my Lord, there is no 'ilâh but You. You created me, and I am your bondservant, and I will stick to my covenant and promise [of faith and sincere obedience] to You, as to my ability. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done, I acknowledge, to You, your bounties upon me, and I acknowledge, to You, my sin. Thus forgive me, for none forgives sins except You.
Whoever says this as he enters upon evening, then, dies that night, he would enter Paradise; and if one says this as he enters upon morning, then, dies that day, he would enter Paradise.}} (Al-Bukhari)
The servant is always in the blessings of Allah, which necessitate thankfulness, and in sinfulness, which requires seeking forgiveness. Both of these matters are required and essential for the servant at all times, as the servant does not cease to alternate between Allah's (various) favours and blessings, and does not cease to be in need of repentance and seeking forgiveness.
This is why the Master of the Children of Adam, and the Leader of the Pious, Muhammad, (s.a.w) sought forgiveness in all circumstances. He said in an authentic Hadith reported by al-Bukhari:
{{O people repent to your Lord, for verily I seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to him more than seventy times in a day.}} (Bukhari)
It is reported in Saheeh Muslim that he said: {{I seek forgiveness one hundred times in a day.}} (Muslim)
`Abdullah ibn `Umar said: We counted in a single sitting the Messenger of Allah, (s.a.w), saying one hundred times:
{{My Lord, forgive me and accept my repentance, verily you are Acceptor of Repentance, Oft-Forgiving.}} (Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maajah)
This is why seeking forgiveness was legislated at the end of actions. Allah the Exalted said:
{{Those who seek forgiveness before dawn (at late night).}} (Quran, 3:17)
Some of them said: "Give life to your nights by performing Prayer, and when the time of late night comes, concern yourself with seeking forgiveness."
It is related in the Saheeh that the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), when he finished his Prayer, he would seek forgiveness three times and say:
{{O' my 'ilãh You are 'As-Salãm [One free from flaws], and from You comes Salãm [peace, or safety], blessed are Thee O' haver of glory and kindness.}} (Muslim)
Allah says: {{And seek forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.}} (Quran, 73:20)
(Even) After the Prophet conveyed the Message, fought in the path of Allah with true jihad, and performed what Allah ordered more than anyone else, Allah commanded his Prophet (to perform Istighfaar), as He the Exalted said:
{{When the victory of Allah has come and the conquest, and you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance.}} (Quran, 110:1-3)
This is why the religion (Deen) is established with Tawheed and Istighfaar, as Allah the Exalted said:
{{Alif Lam Ra. [This is] a Book whose verses are perfected and then presented in detail from [one who is] Wise and Acquainted. [Through a messenger, saying], "Do not worship except Allah. Indeed, I am to you from Him a warner and a bringer of good tidings," and [saying], "Seek forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him, [and] He will let you enjoy a good provision.}} (Quran, 11:1-3)
And Allah says: {{So take a straight course to Him and seek His forgiveness.}} (Quran, 41:6)
And He says: {{So know [O Muhammad], that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sin and for the believing men and believing women.}} (Quran, 47:19)
This is why it was it came in a narration: {{The Shaytan said: People are destroyed with sins, and they destroy me with 'Laa ilaha ill Allah' and seeking forgiveness.}} (Reported by Ibn Abi Asim and Abu Ya`la, but its chain is a fabrication).
Yonus, (a.s), said: {{There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.}} (Quran, 21:87)
The Prophet (s.a.w), when he would ride his mount, he would praise Allah, then say Allahu Akbar three times, then say:
{{I testify that there is no 'ilah except You, Glorified are You, I have transgressed upon myself, so forgive me}} (Abu Dawood and at-Tirmidhi, who said it is Hasan Sahih)
Expiation of a gathering with which the gathering is completed is (the supplication):
{{Glorified are You O' my 'ilãh and I am in Your praise, I testify that there is no 'ilah except You, I ask Your forgiveness and repent unto You.}} (Abu Dawood and At-Tirmidhi, who said it is Hasan Sahih)
ibn Taymiyyah Rahimahullaah
Majmoo al-Fataawaa 10/88-90
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
{{The master of invocations for forgiveness is that the servant says:
O' my 'ilâh You are my Lord, there is no 'ilâh but You. You created me, and I am your bondservant, and I will stick to my covenant and promise [of faith and sincere obedience] to You, as to my ability. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done, I acknowledge, to You, your bounties upon me, and I acknowledge, to You, my sin. Thus forgive me, for none forgives sins except You.
Whoever says this as he enters upon evening, then, dies that night, he would enter Paradise; and if one says this as he enters upon morning, then, dies that day, he would enter Paradise.}} (Al-Bukhari)
The servant is always in the blessings of Allah, which necessitate thankfulness, and in sinfulness, which requires seeking forgiveness. Both of these matters are required and essential for the servant at all times, as the servant does not cease to alternate between Allah's (various) favours and blessings, and does not cease to be in need of repentance and seeking forgiveness.
This is why the Master of the Children of Adam, and the Leader of the Pious, Muhammad, (s.a.w) sought forgiveness in all circumstances. He said in an authentic Hadith reported by al-Bukhari:
{{O people repent to your Lord, for verily I seek forgiveness from Allah and repent to him more than seventy times in a day.}} (Bukhari)
It is reported in Saheeh Muslim that he said: {{I seek forgiveness one hundred times in a day.}} (Muslim)
`Abdullah ibn `Umar said: We counted in a single sitting the Messenger of Allah, (s.a.w), saying one hundred times:
{{My Lord, forgive me and accept my repentance, verily you are Acceptor of Repentance, Oft-Forgiving.}} (Ahmad, Abu Dawood, Ibn Maajah)
This is why seeking forgiveness was legislated at the end of actions. Allah the Exalted said:
{{Those who seek forgiveness before dawn (at late night).}} (Quran, 3:17)
Some of them said: "Give life to your nights by performing Prayer, and when the time of late night comes, concern yourself with seeking forgiveness."
It is related in the Saheeh that the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), when he finished his Prayer, he would seek forgiveness three times and say:
{{O' my 'ilãh You are 'As-Salãm [One free from flaws], and from You comes Salãm [peace, or safety], blessed are Thee O' haver of glory and kindness.}} (Muslim)
Allah says: {{And seek forgiveness of Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.}} (Quran, 73:20)
(Even) After the Prophet conveyed the Message, fought in the path of Allah with true jihad, and performed what Allah ordered more than anyone else, Allah commanded his Prophet (to perform Istighfaar), as He the Exalted said:
{{When the victory of Allah has come and the conquest, and you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance.}} (Quran, 110:1-3)
This is why the religion (Deen) is established with Tawheed and Istighfaar, as Allah the Exalted said:
{{Alif Lam Ra. [This is] a Book whose verses are perfected and then presented in detail from [one who is] Wise and Acquainted. [Through a messenger, saying], "Do not worship except Allah. Indeed, I am to you from Him a warner and a bringer of good tidings," and [saying], "Seek forgiveness of your Lord and repent to Him, [and] He will let you enjoy a good provision.}} (Quran, 11:1-3)
And Allah says: {{So take a straight course to Him and seek His forgiveness.}} (Quran, 41:6)
And He says: {{So know [O Muhammad], that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sin and for the believing men and believing women.}} (Quran, 47:19)
This is why it was it came in a narration: {{The Shaytan said: People are destroyed with sins, and they destroy me with 'Laa ilaha ill Allah' and seeking forgiveness.}} (Reported by Ibn Abi Asim and Abu Ya`la, but its chain is a fabrication).
Yonus, (a.s), said: {{There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.}} (Quran, 21:87)
The Prophet (s.a.w), when he would ride his mount, he would praise Allah, then say Allahu Akbar three times, then say:
{{I testify that there is no 'ilah except You, Glorified are You, I have transgressed upon myself, so forgive me}} (Abu Dawood and at-Tirmidhi, who said it is Hasan Sahih)
Expiation of a gathering with which the gathering is completed is (the supplication):
{{Glorified are You O' my 'ilãh and I am in Your praise, I testify that there is no 'ilah except You, I ask Your forgiveness and repent unto You.}} (Abu Dawood and At-Tirmidhi, who said it is Hasan Sahih)
Care in Building Characteristics of the Believers
Islamweb) By: Shaykh Ahmed Fareed
From the morals and manners of the Salaf (ancestors) was that they would constantly search their souls to breed in them the characteristics of the believers, and to discard the characteristics of the hypocrites.
One is the opposite of the other. A summary of the believers characteristics is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, "…those who turn (to Allah) in repentance, who worship Him, who praise Him, who fast (or go out in Allah's Cause), who bow down, who prostrate themselves (in prayer), who enjoin good and forbid evil, and who observe the limits set by Allah. And give glad tidings to the believers." [9:112]
"Successful indeed are the believers. Those who humble themselves in their prayers, and those who avoid vain talk, and those who pay the Zakat (alms tax), and those who guard their chastity except from their wives or (the slaves) that their right hands possess - for then, they are free from blame. But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors. Those who are faithfully true to their Amanat ( all the duties which Allah has ordained, honesty, moral responsibility and trusts) and to their covenants; and those who (strictly) guard their prayers. These are indeed the inheritors, who shall inherit the Firdaus (Paradise). They shall dwell therein forever." [Holy Qur'an, 23:1-11]
The Prophet (SAWS) said, "None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." [Bukhari]
The Prophet (SAWS) also said, "By Allah! He does not believe. By Allah! He does not believe. By Allah! He does not believe." He was asked, "Who, O Messenger of Allah?" He (SAWS) said: "Whoever does not safeguard his neighbour from his harms." [Bukhari & Muslim]
Yahya ibn Muadh gathered the characteristics of the believers in one of his essays as follows, "It is to be full of modesty, and to be harmless too. To be full of goodness and not to be corrupt. For the tongue to be truthful, for the words to be little and to be plentiful in good action. To have little slip-ups and not to be excessive. To be good to one's relatives, building closeness between them. To be dignified and grateful.
To be full of contentment if Allah restricted some provision. To be forbearing and friendly to his brothers. To be compassionate and chaste. Not to curse, swear, insult, backbite, nor to gossip. Not to be hasty, envious, hateful, arrogant nor vain. Not to lean towards worldliness, nor to extend long hopes and wishes. Neither to sleep too much nor to be absent-minded, nor to show-off nor to be hypocritical.
Not to be selfish, but to be soft and cheerful, not servile. Loving for the sake of Allah, being pleased for His sake and being angry only for His sake. His provision is taqwa (reverential fear of Allah). His worries are what will happen to him in the Afterlife. His friends remind him. His beloved is His Protector and Master. His struggle is for the Afterlife."
Fudayl ibn 'Iyad said, "A believer plants a palm tree and fears that thorns will grow. The hypocrites plant thorns expecting ripe dates to grow!"
From the morals and manners of the Salaf (ancestors) was that they would constantly search their souls to breed in them the characteristics of the believers, and to discard the characteristics of the hypocrites.
One is the opposite of the other. A summary of the believers characteristics is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, "…those who turn (to Allah) in repentance, who worship Him, who praise Him, who fast (or go out in Allah's Cause), who bow down, who prostrate themselves (in prayer), who enjoin good and forbid evil, and who observe the limits set by Allah. And give glad tidings to the believers." [9:112]
"Successful indeed are the believers. Those who humble themselves in their prayers, and those who avoid vain talk, and those who pay the Zakat (alms tax), and those who guard their chastity except from their wives or (the slaves) that their right hands possess - for then, they are free from blame. But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors. Those who are faithfully true to their Amanat ( all the duties which Allah has ordained, honesty, moral responsibility and trusts) and to their covenants; and those who (strictly) guard their prayers. These are indeed the inheritors, who shall inherit the Firdaus (Paradise). They shall dwell therein forever." [Holy Qur'an, 23:1-11]
The Prophet (SAWS) said, "None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." [Bukhari]
The Prophet (SAWS) also said, "By Allah! He does not believe. By Allah! He does not believe. By Allah! He does not believe." He was asked, "Who, O Messenger of Allah?" He (SAWS) said: "Whoever does not safeguard his neighbour from his harms." [Bukhari & Muslim]
Yahya ibn Muadh gathered the characteristics of the believers in one of his essays as follows, "It is to be full of modesty, and to be harmless too. To be full of goodness and not to be corrupt. For the tongue to be truthful, for the words to be little and to be plentiful in good action. To have little slip-ups and not to be excessive. To be good to one's relatives, building closeness between them. To be dignified and grateful.
To be full of contentment if Allah restricted some provision. To be forbearing and friendly to his brothers. To be compassionate and chaste. Not to curse, swear, insult, backbite, nor to gossip. Not to be hasty, envious, hateful, arrogant nor vain. Not to lean towards worldliness, nor to extend long hopes and wishes. Neither to sleep too much nor to be absent-minded, nor to show-off nor to be hypocritical.
Not to be selfish, but to be soft and cheerful, not servile. Loving for the sake of Allah, being pleased for His sake and being angry only for His sake. His provision is taqwa (reverential fear of Allah). His worries are what will happen to him in the Afterlife. His friends remind him. His beloved is His Protector and Master. His struggle is for the Afterlife."
Fudayl ibn 'Iyad said, "A believer plants a palm tree and fears that thorns will grow. The hypocrites plant thorns expecting ripe dates to grow!"
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Population Control, United Nations, and the New World Order
MUSLIM NATIONS MUST LEAVE THE UN WHICH IS ONLY AN ALIBI FOR JUDEO-CRUSADERS TO EXTEND THEIR ECONOMIC NEO-COLONIALISM
Monday, July 14, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Friday, July 04, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Friday, June 06, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
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Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Public Humiliation of Musharraf
The way Pervez Musharraf is acting and refusing to let go of the rule, he is sure to get an unprecedented display of mortification in public and the truth is that he deserves it badly and needs it very badly. Asif Ali Zardari, who earlier thought of having a buddy-buddy nexus with this most despicable person in Pakistan, has also acknowledged now that he is the relic of the past.
United States though never has remained loyal to his dictators, and has always disposed them off after using them, but they now want Zardari to have mercy on the rugged tinpot dictator. They have called upon Zardari to not to impeach Musharraf and give him a safe passage. The American senators like Carl Levin and Bob Casey have once again asked Zardari to try to have a working relationship with their man, but Zardari doesn’t want to share the subservience with Musharraf any more.
Zardari now wants to strengthen his coalition with PML-N once again, and he wants to go through the democratic way. Zardari has realized after tasting bad things that it’s not really good and appropriate for him and his party to become a lookalike of PML-Q.
Ouster of Musharraf is there now, and it’s just a matter of time.
Last 5 posts by Dr. Hassan Isfahani
* Dismal Economic Situation - May 28th, 2008
* Constitutional Package : Real Motives of PPP - May 24th, 2008
* 62 Point Constitutional Package - May 23rd, 2008
* Forgotten Lal Masjid and Forgotten Sins - May 22nd, 2008
* Escalating Food Crisis - May 19th, 2008
United States though never has remained loyal to his dictators, and has always disposed them off after using them, but they now want Zardari to have mercy on the rugged tinpot dictator. They have called upon Zardari to not to impeach Musharraf and give him a safe passage. The American senators like Carl Levin and Bob Casey have once again asked Zardari to try to have a working relationship with their man, but Zardari doesn’t want to share the subservience with Musharraf any more.
Zardari now wants to strengthen his coalition with PML-N once again, and he wants to go through the democratic way. Zardari has realized after tasting bad things that it’s not really good and appropriate for him and his party to become a lookalike of PML-Q.
Ouster of Musharraf is there now, and it’s just a matter of time.
Last 5 posts by Dr. Hassan Isfahani
* Dismal Economic Situation - May 28th, 2008
* Constitutional Package : Real Motives of PPP - May 24th, 2008
* 62 Point Constitutional Package - May 23rd, 2008
* Forgotten Lal Masjid and Forgotten Sins - May 22nd, 2008
* Escalating Food Crisis - May 19th, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
DO YOU LOVE YOUR BABY ?
Do u love your baby?
هل تحبون أولادكم؟
We also!
نحن كذالك نحب أولادنا
Do u protect him?
هل تحمونهم من الخطر؟
We can't
نحن لا نستطيع
Do you like his smile?
تحبون ابتسامتهم؟
We too!
نحن نبحث عنها
do u like peace?
تحبون السلام؟
Every one likes peace
كل شخص يحب السلام
Do u like freedom?
تحبون الحرية؟
same here
كذالك هنا
Who is the biggest supporter of Israel?
من أكبر دولة تدعم إسرائيل؟
Who has destroyed Afghanistan, only to find a group of "terrorists! !"?
من دمر افغانستان فقط لإيجاد مجموعة اتهمت بالإرهاب؟
who is killing Iraqi people to occupy OIL resources?
من قتل أهل العراق ليحتل النفط؟
Why the lives of the people killed in WTC were more precious then the thousands of civilians killed in Afghanistan?
لماذا تم قتل الألوف من الناس المدنيين في افغانستان
Why Oil is more Precious than Iraqi Blood?
لماذا النفط أهم من دم العراقيين
Why the citizen of Palestine has no right no live in peace and liberty?
لماذا الوطنية الفلسطينية ليس لها الحق في السلام و الحياة الطبيعية
Americans call themselves the most "EDUCATED" and "DEVELOPED" nation
الامريكيين يزعمون أنهم أهل التطور و التعليم
Is this education and development? ??
هل هذا تعلم و تطوير؟
Americans the most "PEACE" loving people on earth
الامريكان يزعمون أنهم اهل الحب و السلام و يحبون السلام على الأرض
Are they really "PEACE" loving?
هل فعلا هم محبين للسلام؟
Do you blame us if
WE
HATE
AMERICA
Islahonline
{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maaja
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