Ikhwan Web - 10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger

With a military government that severely restricts Internet access and imprisons people for years for posting critical material, Burma is the worst place in the world to be a blogger, the Committee to Protect Journalists says in a new report. CPJ’s “10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger” also identifies a number of countries in the Middle East and Asia where Internet penetration has blossomed and government repression has grown in response.



“Bloggers are at the vanguard of the information revolution and their numbers are expanding rapidly,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “But governments are quickly learning how to turn technology against bloggers by censoring and filtering the Internet, restricting online access and mining personal data. When all else fails, the authorities simply jail a few bloggers to intimidate the rest of the online community into silence or self-censorship.”



Relying on a mix of detentions, regulations, and intimidation, authorities in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Egypt have emerged as the leading online oppressors in the Middle East and North Africa. China and Vietnam, where burgeoning blogging cultures have encountered extensive monitoring and restriction, are among Asia’s worst blogging nations. Cuba and Turkmenistan, nations where Internet access is heavily restricted, round out the dishonor roll.



“The governments on the list are trying to roll back the information revolution, and, for now, they are having success,” Simon added. “Freedom of expression groups, concerned governments, the online community, and technology companies need to come together to defend the rights of bloggers around the world.”



PJ issued its report to mark World Press Freedom Day, May 3, and to call attention to online repression, a great emerging threat to press freedom worldwide. CPJ considers bloggers whose work is reportorial or fact-based commentary to be journalists. In 2008, CPJ found, bloggers and other online journalists were the single largest professional group in prison, overtaking print and broadcast journalists for the first time.



In compiling this list, CPJ studied conditions for bloggers in countries around the world. CPJ staff consulted with Internet experts to develop eight criteria that included governments’ use of filtering, monitoring, and regulation; authorities’ use of imprisonments and other forms of legal harassment to deter critical blogging; and the extent and openness of Internet access. For further explanation of CPJ’s methodology, click here.



WORST COUNTRIES TO BLOG



1. BURMA



Burma, which heavily censors print and broadcast media, has also applied extensive restrictions on blogging and other Internet activity. Private Internet penetration is very small—only about 1 percent, according to the Internet research group OpenNet Initiative—so most citizens access the Internet in cybercafés. Authorities heavily regulate those cafés, requiring them, for example, to enforce censorship rules. The government, which shut down the Internet altogether during a popular uprising in 2007, has the capability to monitor e-mail and other communication methods and to block users from viewing Web sites of political opposition groups, according to OpenNet Initiative. At least two bloggers are now in prison.



Lowlight: Blogger Maung Thura, popularly known as Zarganar, is serving a 59-year prison term for disseminating video footage after Cyclone Nargis in 2008.



2. IRAN



Authorities regularly detain or harass bloggers who write critically about religious or political figures, the Islamic revolution, and its symbols. The government requires all bloggers to register their Web sites with the Ministry of Art and Culture. Government officials claim to have blocked millions of Web sites, according to news reports. A newly created special prosecutor’s office specializes in Internet issues and works directly with intelligence services. Pending legislation would make the creation of blogs promoting “corruption, prostitution, and apostasy” punishable by death.



Lowlight: Blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi, jailed for insulting the country’s religious leaders, died in Evin Prison in March under circumstances that have not been fully explained.



3. SYRIA



The government uses filtering methods to block politically sensitive sites. Authorities detain bloggers for posting content, even third-party material, deemed to be “false” or detrimental to “national unity.” Self-censorship is pervasive. In 2008, the Ministry of Communications ordered Internet café owners to get identification from all patrons, to record customer names and times of use, and to submit the documentation regularly to authorities. Human rights groups noted that authorities harass and detain bloggers perceived as antigovernment.



Lowlight: Waed al-Mhana, an advocate for endangered archaeological sites, is on trial for a posting that criticized the demolition of a market in Old Damascus.



4. CUBA



Only government officials and people with links to the Communist Party have Web access. The general population goes online at hotels or government-controlled Internet cafés by means of expensive voucher cards. A small number of independent bloggers such as Yoani S?nchez detail everyday life and offer criticism of the regime. Their blogs are hosted outside the country and are largely blocked on the island. Two independent bloggers tell CPJ that they are harassed by authorities. Only pro-government bloggers can post their material on domestic sites that can be easily accessed.



Lowlight: The government now jails 21 writers who were on the leading edge of online journalism in the early part of the decade. These writers, all but one of whom was jailed in 2003, phoned or faxed their material to overseas Web sites for posting.



5. SAUDI ARABIA



An estimated 400,000 sites are blocked inside the kingdom, including those that tackle political, social, or religious issues. Self-censorship is widespread. Aside from “indecent” material, Saudi Arabia blocks “anything contrary to the state or its system,” a standard that has been interpreted liberally. In 2008, influential clerics called for harsh punishment, including flogging and death, for online writers guilty of posting material deemed heretical.



Lowlight: Blogger Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan was jailed without charge for several months in 2007 and 2008 for promoting reform and the release of political prisoners.



6. VIETNAM



Bloggers have daringly tried to fill the gap in independent news that is left by the traditional state-controlled media. The government has responded with more regulation. Authorities have called on international technology companies such as Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft to provide information about bloggers who use their platforms. Last September, prominent blogger Nguyen Van Hai, also known as Dieu Cay, was sentenced to 30 months in prison on tax evasion charges. CPJ research shows the charges were in reprisal for his blogging.



Lowlight: In October 2008, the Ministry of Information and Communication created a new agency tasked with monitoring the Internet.



7. TUNISIA



Internet service providers are required to submit IP addresses and other identifying information to the government on a regular basis. All Internet traffic flows through a central network, allowing the government to filter content and monitor e-mails. The government employs an array of techniques to harass bloggers: conducting surveillance, restricting bloggers’ movements, and undertaking electronic sabotage. Online writers Slim Boukhdhir and Mohamed Abbou have served jail time for their work.



Lowlight: In a March address, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali warned writers against examining government “mistakes and violations,” saying it was “an activity that is unbecoming of our society and is not an expression of freedom or democracy.”



8. CHINA



With nearly 300 million people online—more than any other country in the world—China has a vibrant digital culture. But Chinese authorities also maintain the world’s most comprehensive online censorship program, one emulated by many other countries. The government relies on service providers to filter searches, block critical Web sites, delete objectionable content, and monitor e-mail traffic. Because China’s traditional press is tightly controlled, bloggers often break news and provide provocative commentary. Blogs, for example, played prominent roles in spreading news and information about the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. But bloggers who go too far in promoting unpopular views or reporting sensitive information can find themselves in jail. At least 24 online writers are now in prison, CPJ research shows.



Lowlight: In 2008, the National Office for Cleaning Up Pornography and Fighting Illegal Publications announced that it had removed more than 200 million “harmful” online items during the prior year.



9. TURKMENISTAN



President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov promised to open his isolated country to the world by providing public Internet access. But when the country’s first Internet café opened in 2007, it was guarded by soldiers, connections were uneven, the hourly fee was prohibitively high, and authorities monitored or blocked access to certain sites. The Russian telecommunications company MTS, which entered the Turkmen market in 2005, started offering Web access from mobile phones in June 2008, but service agreements require customers to avoid Web sites critical of the Turkmen government.



Lowlight: Turkmentelecom, the state Internet service provider, routinely blocks access to dissident and opposition sites, while it monitors e-mail accounts registered with Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail.



10. EGYPT



Authorities block only a small number of Web sites, but they monitor Internet activity on a regular basis. Traffic from all Internet service providers passes through the state-run Egypt Telecom. Authorities regularly detain critical bloggers for open-ended periods. Local press freedom groups documented the detention of more than 100 bloggers in 2008 alone. Although most bloggers were released after short periods, some were held for months and many were kept without judicial order. Most detained bloggers report mistreatment, and a number have been tortured.



Lowlight: Blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman, known online as Karim Amer, is serving a four-year prison term on charges of insulting Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.


METHODOLOGY



In consultation with Internet experts, CPJ developed eight questions to assess blogging conditions worldwide. The questions:

*
Does a country jail bloggers?
*
Do bloggers face harassment, cyber-attacks, threats, assaults, or other reprisals?
*
Do bloggers self-censor to protect themselves?
*
Does the government limit connectivity or restrict access to the Internet?
*
Are bloggers required to register with the government or an ISP and give a verifiable name and address before blogging?
*
Does a country have regulations or laws that can be used to censor bloggers?
*
Does the government monitor citizens who use the Internet?
*
Does the government use filtering technology to block or censor the Internet?

Based on these criteria, CPJ regional experts nominated countries for this list. The final ranking was determined by a poll of CPJ staff and outside experts.
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Call for Canceling Death Penalty: Islamic View

Wa`alykum As-Salaamu Warahmatullahi Wabarakaatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear questioner, we would like to thank you for the great confidence you place in us, and we implore Allah Almighty to help us serve His cause and render our work for His Sake.

Death penalty cannot be cancelled either by the Shari`ah or by law. Even those who call for canceling it see it necessary in some urgent cases. Moreover, death penalty is a legal penalty that has been ordained by Almighty Allah, Who knows what is good for His servants.

Also, instead of caring for the murderer, people should rather care for the murdered. Scholars of positive law liken one who defends himself against a crime to a whole society that fights to fend off enemy.

It is proved by anthropological studies that death penalty is a decisive deterrent for a lot of people against brutal violent behavior and a protection for the life of innocent people. That is to say, hudud or prescribed penalties have been ordained under Islam as a deterrent for the criminals and protection for the innocent, not as a method of shedding blood. However, the hudud in general must not be implemented in case there is any doubt regarding the commitment of the crime.

In this regard, we would like to cite for you the following fatwa issued by the late Sheikh Ahmad Ash-Sharabasi, a professor at Al-Azhar University, in which he states the following:

Death penalty is not a recent legislation, so it should not be subject to different views on whether to impose, lift or cancel it. It has been ordained along time ago, and has attracted vigorous debate among legislators, Muslims and non-Muslims. Even those who call for canceling death penalty see it necessary in some urgent cases. Some of them call for it at times of political disorders and wars; others see it urgent in deterring dangerous criminals.

Those who call for the abolition of death penalty have many pretexts. For example, their main objection is that death penalty causes irreparable harm. They mention some rare cases in which innocent people were sent to death penalty.

Reply to this argument is found in guarantees set by Islamic legislation against errors or miscalculation in executing penalties. It stipulates that this punishment must be based on tangible and well-established evidence; justice must be made to run its course, confession must be genuine, the testimony must be from trustworthy witnesses; the punishment must not based on circumstantial evidence.

All these restrictions guarantee that death penalty will not shake the scale of justice, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), said: “Fend off the hudud for the mere occurrence of suspicion.”(Reported by As-Siyuti in his Al-Jami` As-Saghir)

As for irreparable harms, this is not peculiar to death penalty, it stigmatizes other forms of punishment, especially when inflicted on innocent people. For example, nothing can remove the harmful effect of imprisonment and slashing; there is no compensation whatsoever for the insult which befalls an innocent person if subject to injustice.

Another objection is that human life is so honorable and sanctified to be violated by anyone. For them, one owns one’s life and no one else has any authority over that life.

In this concern we say that human life is not man’s property; it is the gift of Allah, the Creator of the whole universe. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: “Man is a creature of Allah. Curse be upon that who violates Allah’s creature.”

This Hadith shows us that human life is not man’s property, because man is created by Allah, Who has full authority and power over His creatures. It is Allah who breathed life in man and He protected it against any violation. Hence, He, Exalted be He, legislated penalties to deter man from oppressing his brothers in humanity.

So, those who oppose death penalty are contradicting themselves. They claim to be merciful toward the murderer, while they should rather be so toward the soul which left the ghost by his virtue; the soul which Allah has prohibited violating it.

Here we remember the Qur’anic verse which reads, (The guerdon of an ill deed is an ill the like thereof.) (Ash-Shura 42: 40). There is also a common saying that as a person behaves with others, others would behave with him, and a reward equals the action.

All lawmakers legalize self-defense, and they say it is permissible for one to kill a person who attacks him, if there is no other way. So in resisting the attack, man is compared to the society as it fends off aggression. That is, a murderer deserves death penalty because he has trespassed against the whole society by killing one of its members. So, when the society calls for death penalty for such a criminal, it is really in a state of self-defense.

Finally, as we see, death penalty is the best deterrent for criminals. In this regard, we’d like to quote Mr. Hafiz Sabiq, the former general attorney, who mentions that due to the defeat of China at the hands of the English army, Britain imposed on China a treaty called “Opium Treaty”. It stipulated that all the Chinese people, men and women, must be addicted to opium, so that addiction would become a characteristic of the Chinese, and this entailed great disasters. But, after the 1949 Chinese Revolution, the Chinese government passed a law stipulating death penalty to curb this crime. This led all the Chinese, men and women to give up addiction. Death penalty was the real deterrent for them, as the general attorney confirms.

This proves that death penalty is the best way to deter the criminals and protect the innocent. There is neither exaggeration nor injustice in implementing this penalty. Rather, it is a fair penalty.




Related Questions

The Rights of Brotherhood

By Wa’il Shihab

Islamic Researcher— Egypt

Image
On the authority of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be on him) said,

"The right of the Muslim on the Muslim are six." It was said, "What are they, Messenger of Allah?" He said, "When you meet him, salute him; when he invites you, respond to him; when he seeks counsel, give him advice; when he sneezes and praises Allah, say to him: Allah has mercy on you; when he is sick, visit him; and when he dies, follow his funeral." (Muslim)

According to the above Prophetic hadith, Muslims have these rights on their Muslim brothers and sisters:

1. To greet them in the Islamic manner when they meet (that is, "as-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh")

2. To accept their invitation (when offered)

3. To advise them (when the situation calls for it)

4. To seek Allah's mercy for them when they sneeze and praise Allah

5. To visit them when they are sick

6. To follow their funeral when they die

1. To Greet Them in the Islamic Manner When They Meet

The greeting of peace is a cause of love, which results in producing faith, which results in the person entering Paradise.

Allah says,

[But when you enter houses, give greetings of peace upon each other — a greeting from Allah, blessed and good) (An-Nur 24:61)

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be on him) said,

"You will not enter Paradise until you have faith, and you will not have faith until you love each other. Shall I direct you to something which if you fulfill you will love one another? Spread peace among yourselves" (Muslim)

The greeting of peace is one of the virtuous characteristics of Islam. For verily each of the people who meet each other supplicates for the other for safety from evils, and mercy, and blessing that brings about every good. And what follows this is a cheerful face and appropriate words of greeting, which result in unity and love, and a removal of feelings of estrangement and cold disassociation. It is part of rights of brotherhood for Muslims to put on a smiling face when they meets their brothers or sisters in faith. Allah's Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

"Do not belittle any good deed, even to meet your brothers with a smiling face." (Muslim)

He also said,

"Your smile in the face of your brothers is an act of charity."

That is why the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had a smiling face all the time.

Thus, giving the greeting of peace is the right of the Muslim, and it is obligatory upon the person who is greeted to return the greeting with a similar greeting or o­ne that is better. And the best of the people are those who start the greeting of peace first.

2. To Accept Their Invitation

This means that when brothers or sisters invite you to a social event or food, then fulfill the request of those who have drawn near to you and honored you with the invitation. Accept their invitation unless you have an excuse. By this, Islam cements the social relations between members of the Muslim community.

3. To Advise Them

When your Muslim brothers and sisters seek your advice regarding something, you have to sincerely advise them.

In this regard, Tamim Ad-Dari reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

"Religion is founded on sincere advice." We said, "To whom?" He said, "To Allah and His Book, and His Messenger, and to the leaders of the Muslims and their common folk." (Muslim)

Therefore, Muslims should not hesitate to advise their Muslim brothers and sisters. However, when advising someone, you have to take care of the following ethics:

a. It should be in secret; that is to say, one should advise in secret, not in public so as not to embarrass the person.

b. Advice should be given in a kind and gentle manner.

c. The adviser should explain to the person any wrongdoing and support his or her stance with proofs from Shari`ah.

4. To Seek Allah's Mercy for Them When They Sneeze and Praise Allah

This is because sneezing is a favor from Allah. Thus the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recommended that the person praise Allah for this favor, and he ordered for his brother/sister to say to him/her, "May Allah have mercy upon you." He also commanded the person who sneezed to answer his brother/sister by saying, "May Allah guide you and set right your affairs."

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Whenever one of you sneezes, let him say, 'Praise be to Allah.' And then, let his brother say, 'May Allah have mercy upon you.' And then he should reply to him saying, 'May Allah guide you and set right your affairs.'" (Al-Bukhari)

However, those who do not praise Allah do not deserve that others pray for mercy upon them, and in this case, they (the sneezers) cannot blame anyone except themselves. For they are the ones who caused themselves to lose the two blessings: the blessing of praising Allah, and the blessing of their brother or sister's supplication for them that is a result of the praising.

On the authority of Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say, "If one of you sneezes and praises Allah, then say to him, 'May Allah have mercy upon you.' But if he does not praise Allah, then do not invoke Allah's mercy for him." (Muslim)

5. To Visit Them When They Are Sick

Visiting sick Muslims is highly encouraged. This is based on a hadith qudsi, indicating that Allah would say to His slaves on the Day of Judgment,

"My slave, I was sick and yet you did not visit Me?" The slave would exclaim, "How can I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds?" Allah would answer, "Did you not know that My slave so-and-so fell ill; don't You know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him?" (Muslim)

`Ali ibn Abi Talib (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say, "When a Muslim visits a sick Muslim at dawn, seventy thousand angels keep on praying for him till dusk. If he visits him in the evening, seventy thousand angels keep on praying for him till the morning; and he will have (his share of) reaped fruits in Jannah (Paradise)." (At-Tirmidhi)

On visiting their sick brothers and sisters, Muslims are supposed to make du`aa' for them.

`A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported: When the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) visited any ailing member of his family, he would touch the sick person with his right hand and would supplicate, "O Allah! The Lord of mankind! Remove this disease and cure (him or her)! You are the Great Curer. There is no cure but through You, which leaves behind no disease." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

6. To Follow Their Funerals When They Die

Following Muslims' funerals is one of their rights upon their brethren. Those who follow the funeral until the deceased's body is prayed over will receive great reward. And if they follow the funeral procession until the body is buried, then they will receive more reward. Following the funeral procession fulfills a right for Allah, a right of the deceased, and a right of the living relatives of the deceased.

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Whoever follows the funeral procession and offers the funeral prayer for it will get a reward equal to one qirat, and whoever attends it till burial will get a reward equal to two qirats." It was asked, "What are two qirats?'' He (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, "Equal to two huge mountains." (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Also, Muslims must keep good ties with the deceased's family and take care of their needs. Here we would like to clarify that women may offer the funeral prayer for their Muslim brothers and sisters, but it is not a duty upon them. Offering the funeral prayer is a fard kifayah (communal duty) on men. This means that it is a duty for the Muslim community to perform that prayer. If a Muslim dies in a community and some Muslims offer the funeral prayer for the deceased, then the duty will be deemed as being discharged from every one else. However, failing to offer such a prayer incurs sin on the whole community, due to negligence. According to Imam Malik, women are allowed to follow the funeral procession.

* A Friday khutbah delivered on Ramadan 21, 1427 (October 13, 2006), in NorthernNevada Muslim Community (NNMC).

Wa'il `Abdel-Mut`aal Shihab is the deputy managing editor of the IOL Shari`ah Department (English). He graduated from Al-Azhar University and got his master's from Al-Azhar in Islamic studies with a major in Islamic jurisprudence and its principles. He is working on his doctorate in the principles of Islamic jurisprudence. He writes occasionally for IslamOnline.net. You can reach him at wael.shihab@iolteam.com.

Islamic feminists distinguish Islam from Muslims Amal Mohammed Al-Malki

Doha, Qatar - How is it that one religion – Islam – seems capable of undermining women and promoting them at the same time?

Anyone attempting to take stock of the position of women in the Muslim world cannot help but be confused. One finds stories in the media all the time about injustices committed against Muslim women, such as “honour” killings, child marriages and discriminatory legal judgments in matters of divorce, custody and inheritance.

On the other hand, one also comes across stories about the remarkable strides made by Muslim women in education, career development and political activism in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Morocco and Turkey.

How can we make sense of such a dichotomous picture?

The answer is simple: by distinguishing the religion of Islam from the Muslims who practice it.

Those who study the Qur’an know that Islam elevated the rights of women beyond anything known in the pre-Islamic world. In fact, in the seventh century Muslim women were granted rights not granted to European women until the 19th century, such as property ownership, inheritance and divorce.

That said, Muslims who codified the Qur’an and Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) into Islamic law did not succeed in expunging the patriarchy of the pre-Islamic world from their practices.

This distinction between the faith and the various manifestations of its practice is a subtle but extremely important one.

When a Westerner is trained to pick up on the distinction, he/she comes to recognise that the Muslim woman who criticises Muslim practices is not usually rebuking her heritage in favour of Western ideals – the kind of rebuke that hits best-seller lists in the West and that feeds Western stereotypes about the religion – but is instead encouraging other Muslims claiming allegiance to Qur’anic teachings to live up to its highest principles.

This inward criticism and call to action is often called Islamic feminism, a promising paradigm which supports change from within, and not in imported formulas.

While adopting the Qur’an at its core, Islamic feminism challenges two main norms: the patriarchal cultural customs mistaken for Islamic teaching and patriarchal interpretations of certain Qur’anic verses.

The project of disentangling what is true Islamic teaching from cultural traditions historically practiced in a Muslim territory is an ongoing project for Muslim feminists.

Arifa Mazhar, the manager of gender issues for the Pakistan-based Sungi Development Foundation, whose goal is to effect policy and institutional changes relating to development by mobilising marginalised local communities, declared at the International Congress on Islamic Feminism in Barcelona in 2008: “Instead of debating Islam, we should be debating culture and its impact…. There are a lot of social taboos and tribal traditions that oppress women, and they have little to do with Islam.”

Islamic feminism’s second challenge is to attempt to reinterpret verses in the Qur’an – especially given the present context – that have been misinterpreted or over-generalised.

One example is the disproportionate weight given to the few Qur’anic verses giving men authority over women within family structures versus the many others that emphasise equality between men and women. Islamic feminism encourages women to study the words of the Qur’an for themselves, and to judge whether the misogyny and failure to take women seriously prevalent in some customs is a matter of Islamic doctrine or, indeed, of cultural impositions on such doctrine. Islamic feminism thus provides the grounds for changing civil and national law in ways that prove progressive for women.

Sisters in Islam, a leading Muslim women’s rights group in Malaysia, has been trying to reform the issue of polygamy. Rather than calling for the abolition of polygamy, for example, it calls only for its restriction to certain situations – such as obtaining permission from the first wife and from the court – and is working on public surveys that would provide empirical evidence of the negative effects of polygamy on society.

Rooted in Islam and the Qur’anic spirit of equity, Islamic feminism provides a credible political voice for women. It gives women’s organisations, women’s rights advocates, and gender scholars in the Muslim world legitimate grounds for action – and change – as fulfilment of society’s religious obligations.

###

* Amal Mohammed Al-Malki is an assistant teaching professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and a member of the Qatar National Competitiveness Council, which promotes reform and transparency in the national economy. This article first appeared in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) as part of a series on Muslim women and their religious rights.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 31 March 2009, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Masculinity and Noble Manners - Segments from Hilyatu Talib al-’Ilm - Notes by Imam Abdul Malik

Filed under: Islamic Education |

Of Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd (Rahimahullah) with brief notes by Abdul-Malik Sheikh

Masculinity and Noble Manners

تمتع بخصال الرجولة، من الشجاعة، وشدة البأس في الحق، ومكارم الأخلاق، والبذل في سبيل المعروف، حتى تنقطع دونك آمال الرجال.
وعليه، فاحذر نواقضها، من ضعف الجأش، وقلة الصبر، وضعف المكارم، فإنها تهضم العلم، وتقطع اللسان عن قوله الحق، وتأخذ بناصيته إلى خصومة في حالة تلفح بسمومها في وجوه الصالحين من عباده

“Enjoy masculine qualities; which include bravery, forthrightness, noble manners and giving for the sake of good causes until the ambitions of men [die] before reaching your level.

Equally, beware of the qualities that oppose them (i.e. these qualities) such as being unconfident, impatient and weak in nobility, for they destroy knowledge, and cut of the tongue from speaking the truth, and they lead him headlong to his enemies in [such] a state where they [i.e. the opposing qualities] brush the faces of the pious servants [of Allah] with their poison”
———————————————————————–

NOTES
· A man who is able to adorn himself with masculine qualities, as defined by Islam, will be able to become brave, forthright and have noble manners that will lead him to become honourable.
· However bravery and forthrightness are often misunderstood
· While talking about men and masculinity, we do not want to belittle or exclude our sisters and the importance of womanhood and feminine qualities, as defined by Islam.
· Sisters too have to attain and enjoy feminine qualities which again will enable them to become true women, as defined by Islam
· Islam has assigned different roles for men and women, that are fair, based on their physiological, biological and psychological makeup.
· There are people today who say that men and women should be made equal in all aspects of life and in everything
· This is a very strange statement as it is impossible to reach such a state of equality.
· Men and women are different from each other, physiologically, biologically and even psychologically.
· Many sociologists acknowledge this fact but still insist that there should be attempts to challenge and change ‘gender inequality’ until men and women are completely equal and are free to do whatever they like.
· For example American sociologist, Juanita Firestone believes that contraceptive pills have given women a degree of liberty but it’s still not enough. She believes that women will be fully liberated if only they are able to become completely equal to their male counterparts and are able to give birth outside the womb (Haralambos & Holborn, 2008).
· Our understanding of equality is not the same as these people. To us equality is to maintain balance in everything.
· 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by water (http://www.bbc.co.uk/) and the remaining proportion is dry land. Now this is not an equal proportion of water and land but it is the required proportion of water and land needed to maintain balance.
· According to Islam, man and woman are two units of a pair.
· When both are taken independent of each other, there will be certain obvious vacuums in the mental, physical and emotional personalities of each.
· Allah has created men and women in such a way that they complement each other in different ways.
· For this very purpose, Allah gave different mental, physical and emotional qualities to the male and the female. These different mental, physical and emotional qualities, on the one hand complement man and woman, and on the other establishes for them different spheres of activity in their interpersonal relationships.
· The Shaykh talks about positive masculinity
· Some of our youths have misunderstood masculinity
· They think that masculinity is to about showing off by trying to be hard.
· They think masculinity is to oppress the weak by dominating them and by doing so they hope gain respect of their peers
· However Islam teaches us defend the weak and remain on the side of justice:

انصر أخاك ظالماً أو مظلوماً، فقال: رجل يا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أنصره إذ كان مظلوماً، أفرأيت إذا كان ظالماً كيف أنصره؟! قال: تحجزه أو تمنعه من الظلم، فإن ذلك نصره.

‘Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or is oppressed.’ A man asked: ‘O Messenger of Allah! I (know how to) help him when he is oppressed, but how can I help him when he is an oppressor?’ He said: ‘You can restrain him from committing oppression. That will be your help to him.’” [Al-Bukhari & Muslim]

· Some of these youths also think to be masculine is to wear the latest designer clothes, drive fast cars, have the latest mobile phones
· They forget that Allah does not look at their appearances or their wealth, or anything else

إن الله تبارك وتعالى لا ينظر إلى صوركم ولا إلى أجسامكم ولكن ينظر إلى قلوبكم وإلى أعمالكم

“Allah does not look at your physical features or your bodies, but He looks at your hearts and your deeds.” [Reported by Muslim]

· In the scale of Islam goodness and true masculinity are measured by Iman, sincerity and the quality of one’s relationship with Allah.
· A quality of a man who is strong in the sight of Allah is that he is able to face difficulty, danger and pain in a manner that enables him to maintain control over different challenging situations through his strength and bravery
· Attaining noble qualities and good manners is one of the objectives of Islam for which the prophet Muhammmad was sent:

إنما بعثت لأتمم مكارم الأخلاق

“I have been sent only for the purpose of perfecting good morals.” [Reported by Ahmad]

http://abdulmaliksheikh.blogspot.com/2009/02/segments-from-hilyatu-talib-al-ilm.html

For a brief bio of Imam Abdul Malik please visit: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=79407639696

Inheritance According To Islamic Sharia Law - by Fazli Sameer

When a believer dies it becomes incumbent on the family members to ensure that the wealth and property left behind are distributed according to Shariah Law prescribed in the Qur’an and Authentic Sunnah. After meeting the initial expenses incurred in giving the deceased an Islamic burial, and, after paying all of his debts and the “mahar” (dowry) that may still be due, to his wife, up to one-third of the remaining may be expended according to the deceased dying wishes or legal will that is left behind, for those who are NOT entitled by Shariah only.

The remainder must be distributed to all the legal heirs as defined by Qur’an and Authentic Sunnah as detailed hereunder.

Zakat payments, if any, that are due by the deceased must be paid even before the settlements of the debts and even before the burial expenses are utilized from the property of the deceased.

Ten groups amongst Male Heirs are entitled as follows:

1. son;
2. son’s son
3. father;
4. father’s father;
5. brother;*

- half brother*

- step brother*


1. brother’s son;

half brother’s son;

1. father’s brother;

father’s half – brother;

1. son of father’s brother;

son of father’s half – brother;

1. husband
2. The freed male slave.

*(children of one father and one mother are referred to as brothers/sisters)

*(children of a father through different mothers as half – brothers/ half - sisters)

*(children of a mother and through different fathers as step –brother / step – sister)

Seven groups amongst Female Heirs are entitled as follows:

1. daughter
2. son’s daughter;
3. mother;
4. grandmother;



1. sister;
2. wife
3. freed slave – girl

If none of the seventeen groups of people mentioned above is alive his wealth wil be distributed among his Arham, i.e., non- inheriting relations.

Eleven groups of Heirs come under the class of Arham:

1. children of daughter;
2. children of sister;
3. brother’s daughter;
4. daughter of father’s younger or elder brother;
5. father’s step brother;
6. maternal uncle;



1. mother’s sister;
2. father’s sister;
3. mother’s father;
4. mother’s father’s mother;
5. children of mother’s sister.

There are six fractions of shares mentioned in the Quran: viz;

2/3, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/3, 1/6.

The 2/3 share is

1. for two or more daughters;
2. for two or more son’s daughters;
3. for two or more sisters;
4. for two or more half- sister;

The 1/3 share is

1. for two or more of mother’s children;
2. for the mother in the absence of child, or son’s child or two or more brothers or sisters;
3. some times for the grand father when there are brothers and sisters,

The 1/2 share is

1. For one of the four sets of females mentioned above when she is alone.
2. for the husband when his wife leaves no issue.

The 1/4 share is

1. for the husband when the wife leaves children;
2. for the wife when the husband leaves no children

The 1/8 share is

1. for the wife when her husband leaves children

The 1/6 share is

1. for the father when the deceased leaves children;
2. for the grandfather;
3. for the mother when the deceased leaves children or two or more brothers and sisters;
4. for the grandmother when the deceased leaves children or two or more brothers and sisters;
5. for the son’s daughter when the deceased has one daughter;
6. for one or more half – sisters when there is a sister
7. for two or mother’s children;

When a father and spouse are alive, after assigning the respective shares due to them, One Third of the Remainder will be assigned to the mother.

The portion assigned to the wife has to be shared equally by two or three of four wives.

Disentitlement of inheritance

Those who are closet in relation ship to the deceased will disentitle others who are distantly related.

1. The son disentitles the son’s children
2. The father disentitles the grand father;
3. The mother disentitles her mother;
4. A father and mother disentitle the father’s mother
5. The father and/or the son disentitled the brother
6. These three (father, son, brother) disentitle the half brother
7. The father, grandfather, and children disentitle the step – brother.
8. The father, the grandfather, the son, the son’s son, the brother, the half- brother, disentitle the brother’s son.
9. The above seven persons disentitle the son of the half- brother
10. The above eight persons disentitle the brother of the father.
11. The above nine persons disentitle the half- brother of the father
12. The above ten persons disentitle the son of a half-brother of the father.

An ‘Asaba*, i.e an agnate, gets into possession of that portion of a deceased’s wealth that is left over after the appropriate shares have been paid. He gets possession of the entire wealth when there are no others entitled to the deceased’s wealth.

An ‘Asaba is a son, son’s son, father, father’s father, brother, half brother, their sons, a brother of the father or his sons.

Next to an Asaba as inheritor is the male freed slave and the male issue of his Asaba.

If there are males as well as females among those that cannot disentitle each other, the males will get two shares each while the females get one share each. *Asaba – male relation on the paternal side.

There are four means of inheritance

1. Inheritance by lineage
2. inheritance by marriage ties
3. inheritance by a slave obtaining freedom
4. Inheritance by a public body or establishment like the Baitul Mal or Treasury.

There are four means by which inheritance may be lost.

1. The inheritor having any connection (even indirectly) with the cause of the death of the person whose heir he is
2. his becoming a Kafir
3. his becoming a slave
4. Uncertainty as to who died earlier.

A son’s son is like son, but he will not get the ratio of 2:1 with the daughter (of the deceased) .

A mother’s mother and a father’s mother are like a mother, but they will have no claim to one third of the wealth. The share of these two will always be one sixth.

A father’s father is like a father, but he will not disentitle the brothers. He will get his share together with the brothers.

A son’s daughter is like a daughter, but she will be disentitled by the son.

A half- brother is like a bother but he will not get the ratio of 2:1 with a sister.

Al-QURAN - CHAPTER 4 - Al-Nissa - Verses 11,12 & 176

4:11 Allah commands you as regards your children (inheritance),

To the MALE, a portion equal to that of TWO FEMALES;

If (there are) only DAUGHTERS, two or more, their share is TWO-THIRDS of the inheritance;

If only one, her share is HALF.

For PARENTS, a SIXTH share of inheritance to EACH if the deceased left CHILDREN;

If NO CHILDREN, and the PARENTS are the (ONLY) heirs, the MOTHER has a THIRD;

If the deceased left BROTHERS or (SISTERS), the MOTHER has a SIXTH.

(The distribution in all cases is) after the payment of legacies he may have bequeathed or debts. You know not which of them, whether your parents or your children are nearest to you in benefit. (these fixed shares) are ordained by Allah. And Allah is Ever All-Knower, All-Wise.

4:12 In that which your WIVES leave, your share is a HALF if they have NO CHILD;

But if they leave a CHILD you get a FOURTH of that which they leave after payment of legacies that they may have bequeathed or debts.

In that which YOU leave, their (YOUR WIVES) share is a FOURTH if you have NO CHILD;

But if you leave a CHILD they get an EIGHTH of that which you leave after payment of legacies that you may have bequeathed or debts.

If the MAN or WOMAN whose inheritance is in question has left NEITHER ASCENDANTS NOR DESCENDANTS (Al-Khalala), but has left a BROTHER or a SISTER, EACH ONE of the two gets a SIXTH; but if MORE THAN TWO, they share in a THIRD; after payment of legacies he (or she) may have bequeathed or debts, so that no loss is caused (to anyone).

THIS IS A COMMANDMENT FROM ALLAH; And Allah is Ever All-Knowing, Most-Forebearing.

4:176 They ask you for a legal verdict, Say, “Allah directs (thus) about Al-Khalala (those who leave neither ascendants nor descendants as heirs).

If it is a MAN that dies, leaving A SISTER but NO CHILD, SHE shall have HALF the inheritance.

If (such a deceased was) a woman, who left NO CHILD, her BROTHER takes her INHERITANCE.

If there are TWO SISTERS, they shall have TWO-THIRDS of the inheritance;

If there are BROTHERS and SISTERS, the male will have TWICE the share of the female.

(Thus) does Allah make clear to you (His Law) lest you go astray. And Allah is the All-Knower of everything.
Note: 4:12 refers to UTERINE (same mother, diff father) siblings while 4:176 refers to FULL (same father and mother) or CONSANGUINE (same father diff mother) siblings

LEVEL I - PRIMARY (Immediate) HEIRS

The primary (or immediate) heirs classified as Level I are:-

1. The SPOUSE (Husband or a maximum of four Wives)

2. The CHILDREN (Sons and Daughters)

3. The PARENTS (Father & Mother)

4. The GRANDCHILDREN (Sons’s SON or Son’s DAUGHTER only)

(applicable only when the SON is already deceased only and has offspring)

LEVEL II - SECONDARY HEIRS

The secondary heirs classified as Level II are:-

1. The GRANDPARENTS (Paternal and Maternal)

2. The BROTHERS and/or SISTERS (In the absence of Father and Son ONLY)

3. The UNCLES and/or AUNTS (In the absence of Grandparents ONLY)

4. The NEPHEWS and/or NIECES (In the absence of Brothers and Sisters ONLY)

Note: It is not practical to go beyond Grandparents as the chances of Greatgrandparents surviving before you is not very high. However, the logic is that in the absence of a particular heir, the next level becomes eligible for inheritance. Eg; IF the Grandparents are dead THEN the Great Grandparents are entitled (if living only) and so on. It is better, for practicality and convenience to limit the inheritance level up to The GrandParents and the Grandchildren. If we attempt to go beyond these levels there will be no limit to the program logic validation.

Under Islamic Law, the primary beneficiaries of a deceased person are his/her IMMEDIATE (Level I) Heirs. ie; Spouse(s), Children, Parents and Grandchildren (if children are deceased only). The Grandchildren that are entitled are only the Son’s Son or the Son’s Daughter. Daughters children are not entitled even if the Daughter is deceased.

In the absence of some or all of these heirs the secondary beneficiaries (Level II) become Heirs under various conditions. In the absence of a particular Heir (eg; Uncle) if and when he/she is entitled the children of that Heir become eligible.

LEVEL I - Inheritance Logic:

1. SHARE OF HUSBAND

IF NO ENTITLED DESCENDANTS EXIST (ie; Children/Grandchildren)

THEN

HUSBAND = 1/2

IF ENTITLED DESCENDANTS EXIST (ie; Children/Grandchildren)

THEN

HUSBAND = 1/4

Note: ENTITLED DESCENDANTS = Sons, Daughters, Son’s Son, & Son’s Daughter. Daughter’s children are NOT treated as entitled descendants.

2. SHARE OF WIFE

IF NO ENTITLED DESCENDANTS EXIST (ie; Children/Grandchildren)

THEN

WIFE = 1/4

IF ENTITLED DESCENDANTS EXIST (ie; Children/Grandchildren)

THEN

WIFE = 1/8

Note: ENTITLED DESCENDANTS = Sons, Daughters, Son’s Son, & Son’s Daughter. Daughter’s children are NOT treated as entitled descendants.

3. SHARE OF DAUGHTER’(s)

IF ONLY ONE DAUGHTER (and NO Sons)

THEN

DAUGHTER = 1/2

IF TWO OR MORE DAUGHTERS ONLY (and NO Sons)

THEN

DAUGHTERS = 2/3

(to be shared equally between all of them)

IF both SON’s & DAUGHTERS EXIST,

THEN

SON:DAUGHTER = 2:1

4. SHARE OF FATHER

IF ENTITLED DESCENDANTS EXIST

(Sons, Daughters, Son’s Sons, Son’s Daughters)

THEN

FATHER = 1/6

IF NO MALE DESCENDANTS EXIST (Sons, Son’s Sons)

THEN

FATHER = 1/6 plus Residue

(residue = remainder after all legal shares are distributed)

IF NO ENTITLED DESCENDANTS EXIST

THEN

FATHER = Residue

5. SHARE OF MOTHER

IF ENTITLED DESCENDANTS or BROTHERS/SISTERS EXIST

THEN

MOTHER = 1/6

IF NO ENTITLED DESCENDANTS EXIST

THEN

IF NO BROTHERS/SISTERS, NO FATHER, NO SPOUSE EXIST

THEN

MOTHER = 1/3

IF BROTHERS/SISTERS, FATHER, or SPOUSE EXIST

THEN

MOTHER = 1/3 of Residue

6. UTERINE BROTHER/SISTER ( from same Mother, different father)

IF ONE UTERINE BROTHER/SISTER EXIST

THEN

IF NO ENTITLED DESCENDANTS and NO MALE ASCENDANTS

(Father/Father’s Father etc)

THEN

UTERINE BROTHER = 1/6 or UTERINE SISTER = 1/6

IF TWO OR MORE UTERINE BROTHERS/SISTERS EXIST

THEN

IF NO ENTITLED DESCENDANTS .AND.NO MALE ASCENDANTS

(Father/Father’s Father etc.)

THEN

ALL UTERINE BROTHERS & SISTERS = 1/3

Note: If there are UTERINE Brothers/Sisters IN ADDITION to FULL Brothers/Sisters (same father/mother), then they share in the residue.

7. SHARE OF SON’S DAUGHTER

IF ONE SON’S DAUGHTER EXIST

THEN

IF NO DAUGHTERS EXIST

THEN

IF NO SON’S SON EXIST

THEN

SON’S DAUGHTER = 1/2

IF SON’S SON EXIST

THEN

SON’S DAUGHTER = HALF SHARE OF SON’S SON

(ie Son’s SON share: Son’s DAUGHTER share = 2:1)

IF TWO OR MORE SON’S DAUGHTERS EXIST

THEN

IF NO DAUGHTERS EXIST

THEN

IF NO SON’S SONs EXIST

THEN

SON’S DAUGHTERS = 2/3 (equally between them)

IF SON’s SON EXISTS

THEN

SON’S DAUGHTER = HALF SHARE OF SON’S SON

(ie Son’s SON share: Son’s DAUGHTER share = 2:1)

8. SHARE OF FULL BROTHER/SISTER

(Full Brother/Sisters are brothers/sisters from the same FATHER & MOTHER)

Brothers & Sisters inherit ONLY when there are NO Descendants (Son/Sons, Son’s son

etc.) and NO Ascendants (Father/Grandfather etc.)

The arabic word “AL-KHALALA” is used in the Quran, Chapter 4 - Al-Nisa, Verses 12 & 176, which is translated by almost all the translators of the Quran to mean “Ascendants & Descendants” thus giving rise to the interpretation that they include “Parents and Children”. However, many scholars have preferred to classify the word as meaning “Father or Son” thus excluding the female components of both Ascendants and Descendants (mother & daughters).

IF NO FULL BROTHER and NO FEMALE ENTITLED DESCENDANT EXIST

(daughter, Son’s daughter etc.)

THEN

IF deceased was MALE,

THEN

FULL SISTER = 1/2 (if only ONE)

IF NO FULL SISTER and NO FEMALE ENTITLED DESCENDANT EXIST

THEN

IF deceased was FEMALE,

THEN

FULL BROTHER = 1 (if only ONE)

IF TWO OR MORE BROTHERS & SISTERS

THEN

FULL SISTERs = 2/3 (shared equally between them)
FULL BROTHER’s & SISTER’s (combination) = 2:1

IF NO FULL BROTHER EXIST but FEMALE ENTITLED DESCENDANT EXIST

(daughter, Son’s daughter etc.)

THEN

FULL SISTER = 1/6 (if only one)

IF NO FULL SISTER EXIST but FEMALE ENTITLED DESCENDANT EXIST

THEN

FULL BROTHER = 1/6 (if only one)

IF FEMALE ENTITLED DESCENDANT EXIST

THEN

FULL SISTERS & BROTHERS = 1/3 (share equally)

9. CONSANGUINE SISTER (Sister from same Father but different Mother)

Consanguine Sisters inherit ONLY when there are NO SON’s or Son’s SON(s) AND NO FATHER AND NO FULL BROTHER.

IF ONLY ONE FULL SISTER AND NO CONSANGUINE BROTHER

THEN

CONSANGUINE SISTER (if only one) = 1/2

CONSANGUINE SISTER(s) (if two or more) = 2/3

IF ONE FULL SISTER AND CONSANGUINE BROTHER(s)

THEN

(CONSANGUINE) BROTHER:SISTER = 2:1

10. TRUE GRANDMOTHER

True Grandmother is defined as the one whose line of connection with the deceased is NOT interrupted by a MALE between two FEMALES. They are entitled ONLY if the FATHER or MOTHER do not exist.

Eg; Mother’s MOTHER, Father’s MOTHER

Father’s Father’s MOTHER, Mother’s Mother’s MOTHER

TRUE GRANDMOTHER = 1/6

11. TRUE GRANDFATHER

True Grandfather is the one whose line of connection with the deceased is NOT interrupted by a FEMALE between two MALES. They are entitled ONLY if the Father or Mother do not exist.

Eg; Father’s FATHER

Father’s Father’s FATHER

Mother’s FATHER

Mother’s Father’s FATHER

TRUE GRANDFATHER = 1/6 IF MALE DESCENDANTS EXIST (Son, etc)

TRUE GRANDFATHER = 1/6 + Residue IF FEMALE descendants exist

TRUE GRANDFATHER = Residue IF NO Male/Female descendants exist

12. UNCLES & AUNTS (Father’s/Mother’s Brothers & Sisters)

Uncles and Aunts are ONLY entitled in the absence of GRANDPARENTS. This means that they will receive shares ONLY if there are NO Parents AND Grandparents because Grandparents do not inherit when the Parents are living. They will also NOT inherit if the children (or children’s children) of the deceased are living. Proportions here are also in the ratio of 2:1 for Male:Female.

13. NEPHEWS & NIECES (Children of Brothers/Sisters)

Nephews and Nieces are ONLY entitled in the absence of Brothers and Sisters. This means that they take the shares of the Brothers/Sisters of the deceased in their absence. Hence a Nepew/Niece will receive what his/her parent (Brother/Siuster of the deceased) would have received if he/she was alive. They will also NOT inherit if the children (or children’s children) of the deceased are living. Proportions here are also 2:1 for Male:Female.

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Bombing Civilians: An American Tradition

Marilyn B. Young

This article examines US bombing of civilians—the logic, the technology, the consequences—from World War II through the Korean War, the Indochinese Wars.

Airpower embodies American technology at its most dashing. At regular intervals, the air force and allied technocrats claim that innovations in air technology herald an entirely new age of warfare. Korea and Vietnam were, so to speak, living laboratories for the development of new weapons: the 1,200-pound radio-guided Tarzon bomb (featured in Korean-era Movietone newsreels); white-phosphorous-enhanced napalm; cluster bombs (CBUs) carrying up to 700 bomblets, each bomblet containing 200 to 300 tiny steel balls or fiberglass fléchettes; delayed-fuse cluster bombs; airburst cluster bombs; toxic defoliants; varieties of nerve gas; sets of six B 52s, operating at altitudes too high to be heard on the ground, capable of delivering up to thirty tons of explosives each.

The Tarzon bomb

A usual mission consisted of six planes in formation, which together could devastate an area one half mile wide by three miles long. Older technologies were retrofitted: slow cargo planes (“Puff the Magic Dragon”) equipped with rapid-fire machine guns capable of firing 6,000 rounds a minute; World War I– era Skyraiders, carrying bomb loads of 7,500 pounds and fitted with four 20-millimeter cannon that together fired over 2,000 rounds per minute.

AC-47 Puff the Magic Dragon

The statistics stun; they also provide distance. They are impossible to take in, as abstract as the planning responsible for producing them. In Korea over a three-year period, U.S./UN forces flew 1,040,708 sorties and dropped 386,037 tons of bombs and 32,357 tons of napalm. If one counts all types of airborne ordnance, including rockets and machine-gun ammunition, the total tonnage comes to 698,000. Throughout World War II, in all sectors, the United States dropped 2 million tons of bombs; for Indochina the total figure is 8 million tons, with an explosive power equivalent to 640 Hiroshima-size bombs. Three million tons were dropped on Laos, exceeding the total for Germany and Japan by both the U.S. and Great Britain. For nine years, an average of one planeload of bombs fell on Laos every eight minutes. In addition, 150,000 acres of forest were destroyed through the chemical warfare known as defoliation. For South Vietnam, the figure is 19 million gallons of defoliant dropped on an area comprising 20 percent of South Vietnam—some 6 million acres. In an even briefer period, between 1969 and 1973, 539,129 tons of bombs were dropped in Cambodia, largely by B-52s, of which 257,465 tons fell in the last six months of the war (as compared to 160,771 tons on Japan from 1942–1945). The estimated toll of the dead, the majority civilian, is equally difficult to absorb: 2 to 3 million in Korea; 2 to 4 million in Vietnam.

To the policy makers, air war is abstract. They listen attentively for a response to the messages they send and discuss the possibility that many more may have to be sent. For those who deliver the messages, who actually drop the bombs, air war can be either abstract (in a high-flying B-29 or B-52, for example) or concrete. Often it is a combination. Let me offer an example that combines the abstract with the concrete. During the Korean War, one pilot confided to a reporter that napalm had become the most valued of all the weapons at his disposal. “The first couple of times I went in on a napalm strike,” Federic Champlin told E.J. Kahn,

I had kind of an empty feeling. I thought afterward, Well, maybe I shouldn’t have done it. Maybe those people I set afire were innocent civilians. But you get conditioned, especially after you’ve hit what looks like a civilian and the A-frame on his back lights up like a Roman candle—a sure enough sign that he’s been carrying ammunition. Normally speaking, I have no qualms about my job. Besides, we don’t generally use napalm on people we can see. We use it on hill positions, or buildings. And one thing about napalm is that when you’ve hit a village and have seen it go up in flames, you know that you’ve accomplished something. Nothing makes a pilot feel worse than to work over an area and not see that he’s accomplished anything.

A “hill position,” a “building” (in Vietnam, “hooches,” sometimes “structures”)—not people. For the man with the A-frame on his back, air war can only be concrete. In 1950, in the month of November alone, 3,300 tons of napalm were dropped on North Korean cities and towns, including the city of Kanggye, 65 percent of which was destroyed by incendiary bombs. In Korea, the British correspondent Reginald Thompson believed he was seeing a “new technique of machine warfare. The slightest resistance brought down a deluge of destruction, blotting out the area. Dive bombers, tanks and artillery blasted strong points, large or small, in town and hamlet, while the troops waited at the roadside as spectators until the way was cleared for them. . . .”

Years later, another pilot, flying a small spotter plane to call in napalm strikes in South Vietnam, told Jonathan Schell how he identified the enemy: “If they run away.” He added: “Sometimes, when you see a field of people, it looks like just a bunch of farmers. Now, you see, the Vietnamese people—they’re not interested in the U.S. Air Force, and they don’t look at the planes going over them. But down in that field you’ll see one guy whose conical hat keeps bouncing up and down. He’s looking, because he wants to know where you’re going.” Then, Major Billings continued, “you make a couple of passes . . . and then, one of them makes a break for it—it’s the guy that was looking up at you—and he’s your V.C. So you look where he goes, and call in an air strike.” Once, Billings remembered, he “about ran a guy to death,” chasing him through the fields for an hour before calling in planes to finish the job. Schell thought this amounted to “sniping with bombs,” and Billings agreed.17 For Billings, the people themselves were concrete abstractions, ideas all too literally in the flesh.

In addition to the bombs that were dropped on Korea, there were those that were constantly contemplated but never used. On June 29, 1950, just four days after the war began, the possibility of using nuclear weapons in the event of Chinese intervention in the war was broached in the National Security Council. In June, as again when the subject came up in July at a State Department policy and planning staff meeting, the questions was not so much whether to use nuclear weapons but rather under what conditions they might be used: if there was overt Chinese and Soviet intervention; if their use were essential to victory; “if the bombs could be used without excessive destruction of noncombatants.”18 Talk of using the bomb increased dramatically after the Chinese entered the war in late October 1950, and President Truman’s casual reference to the possibility in a press conference brought a nervous Prime Minister Clement Atlee to Washington on the next plane. A joint communiqué, however, expressed only a sincere hope that “world conditions would never call for the use of the atomic bomb.”

General Douglas MacArthur thought the conditions were ripe in December 1950 and requested permission to drop a total of thirty-four bombs on a variety of targets. “I would have dropped 30 or so atomic bombs . . . strung across the neck of Manchuria,” he told an interviewer, and “spread behind us—from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea—a belt of radioactive cobalt . . . it has an active life of between 60 and 120 years. For at least 60 years, there could have been no land invasion of Korea from the North.” MacArthur’s replacement, General Matthew Ridgway, requested thirty-eight atomic bombs. In the event, nuclear weapons were not used; the destruction of northern and central Korea had been accomplished with conventional weapons alone.

MacArthur at Inchon planning the US counterattack

The cease-fire that ended the Korean War followed a crescendo of bombing, which was then taken as proof that airpower was as decisive in limited wars as it had been in total war. The cities and towns of central and northern Korea had been leveled. In what Bruce Cumings has called the “final act of this barbaric air war,” North Korea’s main irrigation dams were destroyed in the spring of 1953, shortly after the rice had been transplanted. “The subsequent floods scooped clean 27 miles of valley below. . . . The Westerner can little conceive the awesome meaning which the loss of [rice] has for the Asian—starvation and slow death.” By 1952, according to a UN estimate, one out of nine men, women, and children in North Korea had been killed. In the South, 5,000,000 people had been displaced and 100,000 children were described as unaccompanied. “The countless ruined villages are the most terrible and universal mark of the war on the Korean landscape. To wipe out cover for North Korean vehicles and personnel, hundreds of thatch-roofed houses were burned by air-dropped jellied gasoline or artillery fire,” Walter Sullivan, former New York Times Korea correspondent, reported in The Nation. J. Donald Kingsley, head of the reconstruction agency, called Korea “the most devastated land and its people the most destitute in the history of modern warfare.”

Freda Kirchwey, in an essay for The Nation, tried to explain the general indifference of the American public to the destruction:

We were all hardened by the methods of mass-slaughter practiced first by the Germans and Japanese and then, in self-defense, adopted and developed to the pitch of perfection illustrated at Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Western allies and, particularly, the Americans. We became accustomed to “area” bombing, “saturation” bombing, all the hideous forms of strategic air war aimed at wiping out not only military and industrial installations but whole populations. . . . A deep scar was left on the mind of Western man, and, again, particularly on the American mind, by the repression of pity and the attempt to off-load all responsibility onto the enemy.

Kirchwey thought that this repression explained the lack of protest “against the orgy of agony and destruction now in progress in Korea.” Nothing the North Koreans, Chinese, or Russians had done “excuses the terrible shambles created up and down the Korean peninsula by the American-led forces, by American planes raining down napalm and fire bombs, and by heavy land and naval artillery.” And now Korea, “blotted out in the name of collective security, blames the people who drop the fire bombs,” which might seem unfair to the military mind but was inevitable:

For a force which subordinates everything to the job of killing the enemy becomes an enemy itself. . . . And after a while plain horror displaces a sense of righteousness even among the defenders of righteousness, and thus the cause itself becomes hateful. This has happened in Korea. Soon, as we learn the facts, it will overtake us here in America.

“The American mind,” Kirchwey was certain, “mercurial and impulsive, tough and tender, is going to react against the horrors of mechanized warfare in Korea.”

The air force reached different conclusions. In 1957, a collection of essays was published whose title declared its thesis: Airpower: The Decisive Force in Korea. The authors of one of the essays in the collection describe an air operation they considered exceptionally successful. Late in 1952, a small group of air commanders set out to demonstrate the extent to which airpower alone could “occupy” territory. Their intention was to show the North Koreans that the United States could “exert an effective form of air pressure at any time or any place, could capture and air control any desired segment of his territory for was long as the military situation warranted.” The campaign began in January 1953. For five days, twenty-four hours a day, “a devastating force walked the earth over a 2-by-4 mile target area” and for six days thereafter nothing in the area moved. After 2,292 combat sorties, “Air forces bought a piece of real estate 100 miles behind enemy lines and ruled it for 11 days.” But on the fourteenth day, “with typical Communist swiftness,” “hordes” of “Red laborers and soldiers” began repair work; six days after the attack, a bypass was in place and rail links had been restored. The bridges attacked had been rebuilt, as had the highways and rail links. Still, the report was certain, “in the gnarled steel and wrenched earth the Communists saw the specter of a new concept in war—air envelopment.” One might imagine that the Americans had a lesson to learn here: that bridges could be rebuilt; that a “curtain of fire” created by such raids could cost the enemy a week’s time, but not stop them. Instead, against the evidence, many in the air force concluded that had such airpower been applied earlier in the war, it would have ended earlier and on better terms.

In what turned out to be the final phase of the talks, President Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons if the Chinese did not sign a cease-fire agreement. It has become part of the Eisenhower legend that this last threat broke the stalemate and, in Eisenhower’s words, gave the United States “an armistice on a single battleground,” though not “peace in the world.” In the event, as most authorities agree, the Chinese may not have even been aware of the threat, much less responded to it. Chinese acceptance of the concessions demanded at Panmunjom (all of them relating to the issue of repatriation of prisoners of war) was granted for reasons to do with Chinese, North Korean, and Soviet politics, not U.S. atomic flashing. Nevertheless, in addition to the Republican Party, many senior officers in the air force were convinced of the value of such threats and the necessity, if it came to that, of acting on them.

Whatever the air force learned from the Korean War, what the politicians drew from it was more specific and could be boiled down to one dictum: fight the war, but avoid Chinese intervention. Unlike Freda Kirchwey, military and civilian policy makers (and, for that matter, the majority of the American public) never, to my knowledge, questioned the morality of either the ends or the means of fighting in Korea. The difficult question that faced administrations, from Kennedy through Nixon, was tactical: how to use military force in Southeast Asia without unduly upsetting the Chinese. President Kennedy’s solution was to concentrate on counterinsurgency, which, as it failed to achieve its end, devolved into a brutal ten-year bombing campaign in South Vietnam.



Marilyn Young is a professor of history at New York University. She is the author of Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990.

This excerpt originally appeared in Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth-Century History edited by Yuki Tanaka and Marilyn Young.

Recommended Citation: Marilyn Young, "Bombing Civilians, an American Tradition" The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 16-1-09, April 19, 2009.

Honor Killing from an Islamic Perspective

Wa`alykum As-Salaamu Warahmatullahi Wabarakaatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Dear sister in Islam, we do really appreciate your question, which shows how far you are interested in getting yourself well-acquainted with the sound teachings of Islam. May Allah bless your efforts in pursuit of knowledge and may He keep us all firm in the straight path!

Sister, it’s a well-known fact that Islam maintains the protection of life and does not sanction any violation against it. In the Glorious Qur’an, Allah, Most High, says, “Whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose, his reward is Hell for ever. Allah is wroth against him and He hath cursed him and prepared for him an awful doom.” (An-Nisa’: 93)

`Abdullah ibn Mas`ud, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "The blood of a Muslim may not be legally spilt other than in one of three [instances]: the married person who commits adultery; a life for a life; and one who forsakes his religion and abandons the community." (Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Focusing more on your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

“There is no such concept in Islam that is called “honor killing”. Islam holds every soul in high esteem and does not allow any transgression upon it. It does not allow people to take the law in their own hands and administer justice, because doing so will be leading to chaos and lawlessness. Therefore, based on this, Islam does not permit such killings.

First of all, in order to sanction killing, it must be through a binding verdict issued by an authoritative law court. Individuals themselves have no authority either to judge cases or pass judgments. Therefore, a Muslim should not sanction such killing because doing so will be leading to the rule of the law of the jungle. A civilized society cannot be run by such laws.”

Shedding more light on it, Sheikh `Atiyyah Saqr, former head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, states:

“Like all other religions, Islam strictly prohibits murder and killing without legal justification. Allah, Most High, says, “Whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose, his reward is Hell for ever. Allah is wroth against him and He hath cursed him and prepared for him an awful doom.” (An-Nisa’: 93)

The so-called “honor killing” is based on ignorance and disregard of morals and laws, which cannot be abolished except by disciplinary punishments.

It goes without saying that people are not entitled to take the law in their own hands, for it’s the responsibility of the Muslim State and its concerned bodies to maintain peace, security, etc., and to prevent chaos and disorder from creeping into the Muslim society.”

Moreover, the eminent Muslim scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hanooti, member of the North American Fiqh Council, adds:

“In Islam, there is no place for unjustifiable killing. Even in case of capital punishment, only the government can apply the law through the judicial procedures. No one has the authority to execute the law other than the officers who are in charge.

Honor killing could be a wrong cultural tradition. It is unjust and inhumane action. The murderer of that type deserves punishment.”

Sister, if you are still in need of more information, don't hesitate to contact us. Do keep in touch. May Allah guide us all to the straight path!




Allah Almighty knows best.

UN Policies vs. Muslim Families

salima - Pakistan
Profession
Question Salamu `alaykum.

What do you mean by "UN Policies vs. Muslim Families"?

Please clarify.
Answer
Editor:

Wa `alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu.

As known, the UN formulates a number of agreements and declarations around many issues through what is known as the Economic and Social Council. Through these agreements, they try to globalize certain patterns of life in what is known as social globaization.

They try using many methods to oblige different countries to apply this pattern because many times these patterns contradict with the cultures of these peoples, especially those based on religions and other ‘conservative’ cultures.

Among these methods are political pressures which that UN puts on governmental delegations representing world countries during negotiations and discussions around these documents.

Another method is the funding. There is huge funding granted in exchange for the application of UN policies. Through this funding, certain non-governmental organizations are put into effect in different countries to act as agents of the UN. They adopt its policies and propagate it, work on putting its plans into actions.

This is what we are trying to show and discuss through this dialogue with islamonline.net guest, and the effect of such laws on our Muslim societies.


Name
Um Yahia -
Profession
Question As-salamau `alaykum.

Something that confuses me about the problems that UN tries to solve for the muslim world--which is "Why does the UN always chose our problem from her point of view." AIDS is important yes! --but it is sure not the most dangerous disease that threatens us-- we DO NEED HELP in Hepatitis C hundred times more than AIDS and this is just an example-- many like it.

Thanks
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. As known, the UN formulates a number of agreements and conventions around many issues.

Supposing that the UN is trying to solve our problems, this would make sense. But the UN is not trying to solve our problems and doesn’t care to.

The proof is that at the time when UN is calling for granting children all their sexual rights, they leave Palestinian children to be killed and murdered, and they stand like spectators before the scene.

Other situations also show clearly the double standards applied by the UN that has an agenda to compel us to accept and apply. And they allocate huge capacities to that effect.


Name
Neena - United States
Profession
Question
Salams Sister. Thank you so much for paying attention to such important topic. The UN Commission, using different new laws, turning life between spouses to hell. No place for mercy, and love.. What can we do to stop that?

Answer
Wa `alaykum assalam dear sister. I appreciate your care and your drive to protect the family.

We must pay attention to the dangers transported to us through international agreements issued by the UN, especially those that have to do with women.

These agreements work on canceling all differences between men and women, even biological differences. They do not recognize the effects of these differences and the consequent.

The last UN conference we attended was in March, and the document laid for discussions was calling for complete sharing of all roles between men and women, that is, a fifty-fifty share with men taking part with women in all parts of caretaking inside the family (housekeeping, childcare, caring for the ill, etc.)

There is a very important point. It is true that Prophet Mohamed –peace and blessings be upon him- used to help his wives in house work, but that was voluntarily done by the husband. And the Prophet –peace and blessings be upon him– could have commanded Muslims to help their wives, but he did that himself so that Muslims will follow his example. But every person has their different circumstances.

This can be done as a form of love and compassion between the husband and wife, but not as a command. What we are against here is the formulation of firm laws that organize the relationship between a husband and wife, so that the relation becomes one of a ‘contract’ shape and not ‘love and compassion’. In a contract, there is a gain for one side and a loss for the other side. And each side will be careful to make the most gains, and at this point the love and compassion disappear to be replaced by a spirit of conflict

Imagine, dear sister, how the relationship would be between spouses, if the law interferes in every detail of their life?


Name
Yosra -
Profession
Question
But what's wrong with there being some laws to regulate the relationship between spouses. If people can't do by faith, they can do by law. Women are beaten and deprived of their rights in some societies, so may be laws can help.
Answer
This is a very important question. We have to look for the sources of the problems to deal with them.
We have know the solutions proposed by the UN –assuming that they are giving solutions– to decide for ourselves in the end what suits us and take it.

The problem lies in the fact that people are far removed from their religion; that religion which encourages men to be gentle with women, as the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) commended men to look after women; and encourages women to be ‘good wives’. And describes a good wife as one who obeys a husband if he commands her, and pleases him when he looks at her, and preserves his rights when he is away.

Aren’t these the commands of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for the spouses? The fact that both of them are away from religion makes the two of them fail to meet these orders. The woman treats a man with great rivalry, obvious challenge. And the man tries to prove his male dominance and control over the family by beating, cursing, and humiliation. Both of them are far from the religious view, and so they have a poor life.

Men didn’t understand the true meaning of qawama: spending, caretaking, protection, counsel. These are the pillars for qawama. And the two spouses didn’t understand the reality of the issue: that qawama is a right for the woman. In return, she has to obey him, take his permission, avoid arousing his anger as long as he doesn’t order her to commit a sin, and to be a good companion.

The issue became one of challenge and competition, and families were ruined, and divorce rates are on the rise.

I think a small inspection of our reality shows that it is hard to count on your fingers the number of people adhering to these notions whether among men or women.

The solution, then, is to go back to the Islamic goldmine and spring to inhale from it. the solution is not to allow a non-religious international body to interfere with our lives while we know beforehand the nature of this interference.


Name
Hwaa -
Profession
Question
As salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Sr. Kamilia.
Plase can you explain the issues that arose form th UN conference (that took place last month I think), and what is the importance to the ordinary Muslim, man, woman, and child?

Answer
Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu. There is a committee under the UN called –Commission of the Status of Women CSW– that is in charge of issuing international agreements and conventions that have to do with women.

In 1979, they issued the Convention on the Elimination of all kinds of Discrimination Against Women.

The pressure followed on countries to sign the agreement then to ratify it since 1981.

Already most countries have signed and ratified this document and every year the CSW meets in March to follow up on government’s application of this agreement which stipulates the elimination of all differences between men and women in roles and laws.

For example, the main role for a man is qawama, which necessitates that a man does all the spending, provides care and protection for the family. And the basic role of a woman is to take care of the husband, raise the children, and take care of house issues.

These are basic roles, meaning that there can be other roles, but each one must do their part before moving to any other role.

Allah Almighty has given each one of them the psychological and physical qualifications to do their respective roles in the best form. And Allah has given an advantage to the man over the woman in respect to the qawama -according to the notion we explained before– in one degree according to the verse in surat Al-Baqarah

At the same time, God has given women three degrees of advantage over men when it came to motherhood –in the hadith, the Prophet tells the man to give best company to his mother three times before he mentions the father-. In that manner, both of the man and woman are given an advantage in their basic roles.

Based on these differences in roles, there are slight differences in laws, like the inheritance laws, marriage and divorce, etc. Whether in roles or laws, the CESAW considers this a kind of discrimination and violence against women.

The commission has a priority: to eliminate what they labeled Discrimination Against Women. But how will they do that? By compelling each signing country to the agreement to change their national laws to be in line with this convention, with all its contradictions with our societies and creeds.


Name
C.M -
Profession
Question
HIV care programs are fine, but we sometimes wonder about so many other things that need to be dealt with.

Do we need to teach people about contraceptives or about how to establish a healthy relationship and family?

Answer
The UN policy with regards to HIV is as follows:

A: Abstinence (Abstinence doesn’t only mean Chastity, but also means practicing Oral Sex which is unsafe.)

B: Be faithful to your partner (doesn’t mean faithfulness with its value oriented and ethical meaning, but means doing with one partner to prevent the virus spread.)

C: Condom (means spreading the use of condoms among teenagers and young people and training them on how to use it.)

This is the basic program that the UN promotes for HIV prevention. You can access this website to know the UN policies in spreading condoms.

It is good to know that condoms do not provide 100% safety against HIV.

But the very dangerous issue is the spread of the condom culture and passing it as a means of Safe Sex, which is untrue and misleading.

What is the condom culture? Because it is a complete system that includes;

First, social acceptance of this – destructive – idea, passed without objections, and instilling the conviction among people –as obvious in the website I mentioned– that a condom is the only efficient means.

Secondly, they convince parents that they shouldn’t object to their children’s use of condoms.
Actually, they aren’t asked to only not object, but also parents are supposed to make sure that their children have it everyday before they leave home!

Third, they integrate sex education in schools where children and teenagers are trained on how to use condoms.

Fourth, they provide condoms for a minimum or no price.

As for prostitutes and injection drug abusers and homosexuals – whom the document places among the most likely categories to be prone to the disease – the UN calls for reaching out to them to provide services, i.e., condoms to them as well as clean syringes to use fir drugs instead of exchanging a contaminated one among them and spreading the disease!

Clearly, the UN deals with the results and consequences of the disease, but never tries to treat the roots of the problem. Supposedly, since HIV is primarily a behavioral disease – meaning that the main cause is sin (adultery – homosexuality – drugs), then preventions should come through preventing the leading causes, not through handing out condoms to decrease the infection, right?


Name
Confused mother - United Kingdom
Profession
Question
How could we avoid HIV infection in a non-Muslim society where there are a lot of illegal relationships. How can we protect our children of being harassed or seduced?

Answer
During the George Bush term in the US office, he made all efforts to convince young people and teenagers that the only guaranteed method was complete abstinence from sexual relations outside marriage.

This year we gave a workshop at the UN on this notion. We printed the world HIV map that shows clearly that the Islamic region is almost clear showing a white color whereas in America and South Africa the color was almost black.

We explained that the reason is the Islamic culture prevailing in the region prohibits sexual practices outside marriage, prohibits homosexuality and drugs, what makes it the least likely region when it comes the spread of the disease. We invited them to make use of this experience, and try to imitate it.

We, as people who have a commitment to Islam, must insist on teaching people chastity.

Agreeing to the use of condoms means: if you don’t want to be chaste, use a condom.

But chastity is not an option is Islam; it is a must. And failing to follow this is prohibited and is a crime in Islam in order to preserve the health of the whole society.


Name
Dorria Fahmy - United States
Profession Social Worker
Question No question, just I want to say: Sr. Kamilia, I apperciate your hard work. Jazaki Allahu kul khiar.

Answer
Jazana Allahu wa eiakom Sr. Dorria. May God shower us with His blessings and wisdom, and make the best use out of us. Ameen


Name
Tareq - Egypt
Profession
Question
Assalamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu Sr. Kamilia. As the president of the (IICWC), and one of the attendees of that session by the UN commission, what were the formal and informal responses to such laws from our Muslim countries? Did they take any action to prevent such destructive laws? And how can we react to stop applying such laws?

Answer
Official stances – sadly enough – are not a source of optimism and they are moving from bad to worse. For example, when signing the CEDAW in the eighties, the countries laid many objections to the terms that conflict with Islamic shari`ah (law) and the UN is supposed to respect these reservations. But in reality, they practice many consecutive pressures on governments to withdraw their reservations, and pressure other countries to change their local laws to harmonize them with the agreement.

In order to traverse these reservations, the UN rephrases the same terms in a different way to incorporate them in the annual documents of the annual CSW meetings to follow up the application of the agreement.

In that way, these countries sign them in an indirect way and – to our disappointment. Most formal representatives of Muslim country completely surrender to the process without trying to resist, with a few insignificant exceptions. Most representatives are absent from the sessions to start with.

People must start expressing their refusal, seminars must be arranged, columns must appear in newspapers and magazines and on the internet. It must reach decision makers that people refuse these agreements and are holding on to the Islamic Shari`ah.

Just like the Egyptian people declared a strike yesterday to oppose the rising prices and to call for democracy, why don’t they go on strike for ethics and the family? Why aren’t there posters in different places to promote this? Why aren’t there even small stands organized with the media for the world to see on satellite channels and other means.

Decision makers must hear the voice of the people. They have to realize that nations will not accept in compromises in Shari`ah. Currently, law drafts are proposed in parliaments.

In Egypt, for instance, we have the drafts laws on restricting polygamy to an extent of preventing it. Divorce is also going to be restricted to happen with the approval of a judge. Worse still, is that they are trying to establish a penal crime, that of marital rape. The husband in that case doesn’t have the right to have a sexual intercourse with his wife without her complete consent, a prior consent. If she doesn’t all she has to do is to make a complaint by phone and the husband will be immediately punished for the charge of raping his wife!

Is the system clear: the husband doesn’t have the right to have sex with his wife without her consent, at the same time he is prevented from having a second wife, and if he wants to divorce her, he loses everything (the house, children and everything). So he has no choice but adultery. What do we expect afterwards?

If we just remain silent and let these laws be passed, our societies will gradually turn into a cut-and-paste of Western societies where a family institution is almost extinct and prohibited sexual relations have replaced legal marriage, where the numbers of illegal children deprived of a healthy upbringing by legal parents abound and where many other dangers results appear.



Name
Khona - Algeria
Profession
Question
Please let us know how could we apply an Islamic alternative for HIV managed care for both men and women?
Answer
The only Islamic substitute is chastity and nothing else for the family in general.

We, at the International Islamic Committee for the Woman and Child, have issued a Family Charter in Islam that explains all the roles and relations between family members as well as their rights and duties.

It is a must read for all of us, and we must try to spread it among people.


Name
Editor -
Profession
Question .
Answer
At the end, we would like to thank Sr. Kamilia Helmy for her presence with IslamOnline readers today. And we appologize for not being able to answer all questions for time constraints.