Islamic Summit at Doha
Tough Against Israel Iraqis, Afghans Back into Favour
By A Staff Analyst
PRAGMATISM and maturity of outlook stood out as the hallmark of the 9th Summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. The summit at Doha(Qatar) issued a call to the Islamic nations to break diplomatic relations with Israel but desisted from calling for a Jehad against Israel under pressure from hawks. It also made it plain to the United States that any move to shift its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be considered a serious violation of the Muslim sentiments. The final communique of the OIC representing the 56 Muslim nations also threatened to issue a call for severing diplomatic relations with any country that moved its missions to Jerusalem which is forcibly occupied by the Jewish state of Israel in violation of the UN resolution 242.
Though the OIC avoided endorsing the Iraqi call for declaring Jehad against Israel, it threw enough hints that the 9th summit would not supinely approve various measures designed to turn the world into a unipolar world. The Summit allowed the Taliban regime of Afghanistan to be represented by its foreign minister Abdul Wakil Muttawakili, appeared flexible on opening air routes to Iraq and ensured representation from Kashmiri leadership. Even while making it clear that there would be no compromise on integrity of Kuwait, it was for accommodating Iraq into the comity of Islamic nations. Talibans representation too was surprising because only three Muslim nations Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates have so far recognised the Taliban regime. Similarly, The OIC decided to send a study team to Jammu and Kashmir. The fact that government of India allowed two Hurriyet leaders, Maulvi Oomer Farooque and Maulana Abbas to attend the conference has in itself been seen as a major relaxation towards paving ground for atmosphere of dialogue.
There was no headway in matters of forging a common Islamic market, floating an Islamic Currency or setting up Islamic court of justice. The success of some of the decision of the 9th summit would also be linked to the forthcoming meeting of Arab League and the OPEC nations. OPEC will be meeting on January 17 and will have to decide whether it should concede the demand for increasing oil production. The continuing Western support to Israel despite barbaric assault against Palestinians should in all likelihood make the OPEC either decide for maintaining the same level of oil production or urge for a symbolic curtailment.
IINA Adds : The outgoing head of the OIC President Muhammad Khatami of Iran while inaugurating the conference on November 12 called for the snapping ties with Israel, democracy in the Islamic countries, establishment of an independent Palestine and setting up of a court for trial of oppressors in Israel. Khatami also called for dialogue between civilizations and its importance in creating a New World Order. The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani who is the new head of the OIC called for a decisive stand in supporting the Palestinian people, a political solution to the Iraqi crisis, adding that conflicts among them will only dissipate their energies and resources.
He called for the speedy formation of an Islamic Court of Justice and also stressed the importance of setting up an Islamic common market, adding that the formation of a free-trade zone was the first step toward the achievement of such a goal. Sudanese leader, General Omar Hassan Al-Bashir wanted a Jihad to be proclaimed in support of the Intifadha of the Palestinians.
OIC Secretary-General Dr. Ezzedine Laraki called for attention to be paid to science and scientific research, and increase in the economic and trade exchanges between Islamic countries. Saudi crown prince and deputy prime minister Abdullah called for freezing of relations with Israel and preserving the Islamic character of Jerusalem. Turkey’s President expressed country’s solidarity with Palestine and Yasser Arafat in his struggle for his people.
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Israeli Terror Wrecks Palestinian Kids
Jerusalem: Israeli terror, which has been unleashed for the last 35 days, is having adverse psychological effects on the Palestinian children, whose only crime is to defend the Islamic religious holy sites. So far over 150 children have died, among them 46 were under the age of 18, plus about 7,000 wounded. It is attributed to intense daily bombardment by Israeli forces using helicopter gun-ships, tanks, and heavy machineguns against Palestinian civilians. Israelis shoot at sensitive parts of their bodies, which either kills them outright or maims them for life. They even use internationally forbidden dumdum bullet.
The visual of impact their homes being bombarded and razed to the ground, destruction of business premises is having an adverse psychological effect on them.
The Palestine Law Society’s report on use of excessive force says that Israel has adopted a policy of starving the entire Palestinian people. Samia Taha, a psychologist from the Palestinian Working Women’s Society, said that a ten-year-old girl Raam, a normal person till before Intifadah experiences sinister nightmares to the extent that she cannot digest her food properly, in addition to uncontrolled urination. All this is due to the fear that has been instilled in her by the incidents of violence, which she sees on a daily basis.
Samia said Palestinians of all ages, and particularly those who live near Jewish settlements, have become scared of sudden eruptions of gunfire or other types of attacks, and those with children who have been victims of Israeli bullets spend sleepless nights looking after them. Thus Israeli terror has affected all segments of Palestinian society, many of whom cry uncontrollably, to vent their anger.
Ibrahim Al-Masry, a lecturer in mental health at the Bethlehem University, said children, particularly those of Bait Jala, have become so instilled with fear, that they do not want to venture outside their bedrooms, and added that the effects of such phobias would be felt by the present generation even in their adult life.
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Israeli Tactics Passes Off Dome for Mosque
Cairo : Ambassador Muhammad Subeih, Palestine's Permanent Representative at the League of Arab States, has said that Israel is doing its utmost to obliterate the Aqsa Mosque, by constantly showing the Dome of the Rock in television clips, and not the mosque itself. He said the Dome of the Rock is only part of the Aqsa Complex, and not the Aqsa Mosque itself.
He told IINA's Cairo correspondent that it was the Caliph Omar bin Al-Khattab who first ordered construction of a wooden shed of the Rock. Later caliph Abdul Malik Marwan got a larger hexagonal shed over the rock. The structure was last repaired in 1964.
The Ambassador said: "I would, through IINA, to alert all the Arab and Muslim media channels, that what appears on their television sets is not the Aqsa Mosque, but the Dome of the Rock, the golden Dome." He said this is a ruse by the Israelis for destroying the Aqsa Mosque, so that when they eventually do that they could turn around and come up with the excuse that the "Aqsa Mosque" is still intact referring, of course, to the Dome of the Rock.
Ambassador Subeih said: "We must be well aware of this Zionist scheme, for which they widely and freely distribute the pictures of the Dome of the Rock, so that people pay attention to it and forget the mosque itself." IINA
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US Elections
Muslim Opponents Lose
Washington D. C.: Several candidates who engaged in Muslim-bashing during their poll campaigns were defeated in November elections in the United States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Senate seats in New York and Georgia went to opponents of Muslim bashers. The Washington-based Islamic advocacy group says the results are a defeat for those who seek to exclude Muslims from political participation.
In New York, supporters of Republican Senate candidate Rick Lazio waged a campaign that included allegations that his opponent and American Muslim organizations were somehow linked to the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. A Washington Post writer called that campaign tactic ‘’political pornography.” Lazio lost to Hillary Rodham Clinton by a margin of 12 per cent.
Lazio’s anti-Muslim tactics were prompted by old allegations from Steven Emerson, a pro-Israel activist who Muslims say has a long history of defamatory attacks on their community, Emerson was one of the first commentators to falsely link Muslims with the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City and the downing of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.
In Georgia, Republican congressional candidate Sunny Warren attacked Rep. Cynthia McKinney using the same Muslim-baiting tactic as Lazio. Along with allegations that McKinney was tied to those who attacked the USS Cole, a Warren fundraising letter stated: “Cynthia McKinney is dead wrong on Middle East policy and best friend of Saddam Hussein. Cynthia McKinney’s team is Iraq, Hamas, Yasser Arafat, and the Arab Muslim Council.”
In reply, McKinney said: “My opponent, Sunny Warren, recently attempted to paint me and the Arab-American and Muslim communities with the broad brush of ‘terrorism’. Sunny Warren’s attacks on my record reflect the worst kind of hate-mongering...racist innuendo and hate-mongering have no place in an election campaign or any respectable public discourse.” McKinney also noted that the Arab Muslim Council does not exist. McKinney defeated Warren by a 20 percent margin. On October 23, the American Muslim Political Coordinating Council Political Action Committee (AMPCC-PAC) announced its endorsement of George W. Bush for president, citing his outreach to the Muslim community and his pledge to end the use of secret evidence in INS deportation hearings. (AMPCC-PAC is an affiliated PAC of the American Muslim Political Coordinating Council. CAIR is an AMPCC member.) Other Muslim groups announced endorsements of national and local candidates.
In August, thousands of Muslim activists nationwide received a step-by-step guide to increasing political participation in local communities. The American Muslim Voter Registration Guide was distributed by CAIR as part of the largest campaign of its type targeting Muslim voters. September 15 was designated Muslim Voter Registration Day. There are some six million Muslims in America.
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"Islam Growing Even without Power" : Hofmann
Riyadh: The Western media under the monopoly of anti-Islam Forces is propogating lies about the Islamic Sharia and misleading the world. This was stated here by German diplomat Murad Hofmann on November 8.
Hofmann said the fact that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West despite adverse propoganda testifies that it appeals to the hearts rather than coercing people into submission. He said the Western countries have 13 million Muslims and Germany alone has 3 millions of them. He said this growth happened during the era of Islam's powerlessness in the world. Nearly 15000 US soldiers embraced Islam during and after the Gulf War and the US Armed Forces had to appoint four Muslim imams for religious services.
Hofmann said the West is developing aversion with liberalism which has led to permissiveness and disintegration of the family. They are themselves feeling the benefits of Hijab for women.
Dr. Hofmann was speaking at a ceremony got up here on the eve of Riyadh being designated as the "Cultural Capital of the Gulf" by the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Dr. Hofmann was born in Frankfrut in 1931 and took doctorates in Economics and Law. He served as a diplomat in German Foreign Service and was ambassador in several Islamic Countries. He has authored seven book on Islam.
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Islamic Satellite to be Launched
A consortium will soon be launching an Islamic satellite for purposes such as specifying the beginning of Arabic months, and in the investment sector. This was disclosed by Sayyid Ali Al-Hashimy, Advisor on Islamic Affairs at the Diwan of the President of the UAE, who is also a representative of the High Founding Committee for the Project. He said: "The process would be complete between the High Founding Committee of the Project and the executing company (Orbit). The project is expected to cost US$ 23,000,000.
The satellite would be used for Islamic matters, such as the determination of the various religious seasons, and would also be used for investment purposes between Arab, Muslim and others countries of the world.
Hashimy said the satellite will be situated 400 km above earth, while other satellites are as high as 36,000 kilometers. Apart from its religious value, the satellite would also be used to carry out surveillance on such things as environmental hazards, fish shoals, water sources, and the like.
The Muslim World League (MWL) has contributed half a million dollars to the project, while requests have been sent to not less than 30 Arab and Islamic countries contributions from their governments. The door will also be opened for investors who wish to invest in the project, each share costing ten Egyptian Pounds.
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Mysterious Fire Destroys Mosque
Washington D.C. : :A Masjid in Surrey in British Columbia province of Canada was gutted in a mysterious fire on Friday, November 24.
According to media reports, the two-story building was fully engulfed in flames. The lobby was gutted and the rest of the building suffered heavy damage. No injuries were reported.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on Canadian law enforcement officials to investigate a suspicious fire at Surrey Masjid as a possible hate crime. The Islamic advocacy group says tensions in the Middle East and recent stereotypical portrayals of Islam in the American and Canadian media point to anti-Muslim bigotry as a possible motive in the attack.
Surrey Masjid was British Columbia’s first mosque. It opened in 1979. “The racist tone of pro-Israel commentaries in the current Middle East crisis only serves to fan the flames of existing prejudice and stereotyping. “This anti-Muslim rhetoric can easily turn into the reality of physical attacks,” said Dr. Sheema Khan, director of CAIR’s Canadian Office (CAIR-CAN). By way of example, she cited a November 19 Calgary Sun commentary claiming the “mandate of Islam” is “death to the Jews.” Representatives of that same newspaper recently apologized after an associate editor told Muslim critics “ Allah be damned! Muhammad too!”
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Every Sixth Person in Islamabad is an Afghan
Islamabad : There are over 72,000 Afghan nationals settled in Islamabad, according to a recent survey conducted by the Islamabad Capital Territory administration.
Every sixth person in Islamabad is an Afghan national, an official source said. The states and Frontier Regions Division had asked for the survey of Afghan refugess to ascertain their number in the country. However, except the Islamabad capital territory, the division has yet to get a response from other departments.
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Medical Seminar in Kuwait
Kuwait City : The Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences will hold a seminar on the theme “Sciences in Islam”, at its headquarters here on January 23 - 25, 2001. The secretary-general of the organization, Dr. Ahmed Rajai Al-Jundy, said 40 scholars and Muslim scientists were being invited from various parts of the Arab and Muslim world, as well as from the West.
Dr. Jundy said the objective of the seminar is to discuss and obtain the opinion of scholars in the field of Islamic sciences, because there are two schools of thought on this topic. One school maintains that by sciences it is meant the Shari’a sciences, to the exclusion of other secular sciences, such as medicine, pharmacology, astronomy, mathematics, nature, chemistry, and the like. Whereas the other maintains the opposite.
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Iraq-Syria Rail Link Reopened
Baghdad : Iraq resumed a rail service to Syria recently, 19 years after rail links between the two countries were cut, the official Iraqi News Agency said.
INA said the train left the northern city mosul , 420 km north of Baghdad, for the Syrian city of aleppo carrying 30 passengers and goods. It said the train would undertake the 520 km, 20-hour trip once a week. Relations between Baghdad and Damascus have improved in recent months after two decades of tension.
Syria, ruled by a rival branch of the Baath Party, backed Tehran in the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war and was a member of a U.S led 30-state coalition that drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf war.
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Committee against Abuse of Women
Teheran : Iran is setting up a special committee to combat physical abuse of women, especially in the home by husbands, the students’news agency ISNA reported.
This committee comprises representatives of the interior and education ministries, the police and the coroner’s office and aimed at avoiding abuse of women, especially violence at home by husbands against their wives, said Zahra Shojaie, the president advisor on women’s affairs.
The committee will also establish a hotline that women can call for urgent help if abused by their husbands. There are no statistics about physical abuse of women at home but it is rooted in the wrong cultural approach of men towards women, she said.
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Leicester Uniy. Islamic Institute Tie - up
Leicester: The Markfield Institute of Higher Education, an institute for higher learning in Islamic Studies began its functioning here last month. It will offer M.A., M.Phil and Ph.D in Islamic Studies. It is affiliated to the University of Portsmouth.
Director of the Institute, Professor Zaghloul Et Naggar said the Institute will blend the best traditions of the Western Research and investigation while retaining the authencity of Islam.
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UK Funds for Muslim School
London: The British Government has announced the state funding for the first ever Muslim high school. After several rejection, Bradford’s Feversham College Muslim Girls High School was recognised as eligible for the state grants. There are 80 Muslim independent schools in the UK. There are 4800 Chruch of England, 2,118 Catholic, 28 Methodist, 31 Jewish, 35 ‘other’ Christian, 1 seventh Day Adventist and 2 Sikh schools in England.
The Dept of Education will give five million Sterling Pounds to the schools governing body Muslim Association of Bradford. Association chairman Mohammad Ibrahim welcomed the decision.
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Qardhawi is "Personality of the Year"
From Mohammad Hidayathullah
Dubai: Dr Yousuf Al Qaradawi, a prominent scholar of Egyptian origin has been named as the Islamic Personality of the Year. The award carries Dh 1 million and will be presented on Ramadan 20 in the Dubai World Trade Centre. Al Qardawi, 75 holds Qatari nationality and is the Dean of the Sharia and Islamic Studies College and Director of the Prophet’s Bibiliography Centre at Qatar University.
Al Qaradwi said he plans to use the Dh 1 million award to establish an institution, preferably in Dubai, to provide study opportunities for outstanding Muslims. I had been thinking of an institution which sponsors the study of needy outstanding Muslims as there are many people whose social conditions prevent them form pursuing learing.
Al Qaradawi is well known in the Arab and Muslim world having established a modern school of thought to explain and present Islam.
He exhibits remarkable flexiblity and leniency in explaining and applying Islamic
principles. He says : “We need to talk to people using modern language, we cannot talk to them in the language of previous centuries. Islamic principles are never changed or modified, but the language, which we should use to attract people and help their attachment to the religion, should be changed I use one language when I lecture in the east and another language when I speak to Muslims in the West. This is in order that Muslims understand the religion better. I give illustrations from social life.”
Al Qardawi is a member and a founder of Islamic societies and educational institutions in various countries including Pakistan, Sudan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the UK, France and the US.
He is also a chairman of Al Balagh Society for Serving Islam which has a website dedicated to helping Muslims understand the religion and to introduce non-believers to Islam.
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12-vol Quran Encyclopaedia
Beirut: A 12-volume Quranic Encyclopaedia has been published by the Islamic Doctrine Rapprochement Publishing House here. It was released in June last. Titled as Al-Mousoutaul Qurania, It was prepared by Syed Jaafer Sharfuddin and revised by Ahmed Hatum and Dr. Mohamed Toufik Abu Ali. Preface has been written by ISESCO chief Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri.
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Egyptian IT Villages
Cairo: Egypt is setting up three Information technology villages. The first one is coming up in Giza near Cairo. Second will be set up at Mansoora village, 125 km north of Cairo while the third will be in the port town of Alexandria. Egypt plans to train 5000 students in IT field. According to Egyptian communication minister Mohammad Nazeef there are four lakh Internet users in Egypt while the entire Arab world has nearly 20 lakh Internet users. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak recently met chiefs of Microsoft, IBM and Sisco etc. president Hosni Mubarak recently met chiefs of Microsoft, IBM and Sisco etc.
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ISESCO Regional Office in Sharjah and Tehran
Rabat: The Islamic Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESC0) will open a regional office in Sharjah in UAE, the 7th General Congress of the organisation decided as part of its 2001-3 plan. Rabat-based Islamic Scientific, Sheikh Muhammad bin Sultan Al-Qassimy, the ruler of Sharjah has donated land and US$ one million for the construction of the office. The Congress also approved in principle the setting up of a regional office in Teheran.
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On Record
Russian Atrocities in Chechnya
BUT there are somethings he cannot forget. “I remember a Chechen. I remember a Chechen female sniper. We just tore her apart with two armoured personnel carriers, having tied her ankles with steel cables. There was a lot of blood, but the boys needed it. After this, a lot of boys clamed down. Justice was done, and was the most important thing for them.
Maura Reynolds
on atrocities by Russian troops in Chechnya in her article “War Has No Rules” in Los Angeles Time.
Net War
ISRAEL happens to be one of the most computer literate societies in the world, its 1.1 million connections being more than those in all 22 Arab countries combined. This means it has a vast hacker force at hand.
During the latest phase of the Arab-Iasraeli conflict, the Israelis have devised “how-to” sites which list the Arab Internet targets, invite visitors to choose which one they would like to disable and then offer a simple crass course online on how to do so.
The Arabs were reported to have struck back with pro-Palestinian cyber soldiers in the US leading the charge. Reported the Jerusalem Post on October 27, “Repeated cyber attacks by what was assumed to be Palestinian or Islamic hackers on Israeli Government websites using NetVision services brought down the Foreign Ministry site yesterday, and led the IDF to bloser its Internet service by subscribing to the higher throughput AT&T provider to ensure its site would remain accessible”.
Sevanti Ninan in The Hindu
“War and Peace dot com”, November 5, 2000.
US Media
The US media is largely controlled by the Jews, as is Hollywood, and they account for more than half the policy-making jobs in the Clinton administration. The peace can be achieved once the US acted as an honest broker and the US media as impartial commentators.
Jemima Khan, wife of Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan in the “The News” Lahore.
(Jemima is a new convert to Islam and daughter of Jewish businessman late James Goldsmith. She lives in Lahore.)
German Muslims
As far as I know, there are 800 mosques in Germany. The German Muslims have built a mosque in the heart of the main airport, yet no one has said no to them.
Dr. Baron Paul von Maltssen
Germany’s Ambassador to Egypt while talking to IINA.
Fantasy
It’s a fantasy fum title it’s not supposed to be taken seriously. Contestants now use the opportunity to travel and enjoy themselves
Julia Morley,
Co-founder of Miss World Beauty Contest to Reuter 09-11-2000.
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People
Retires : Prof. Ghulam Azam, leader of Jamaate Islami, Bangladesh announced retirement from politics after heading the party for 20 years. He is likely to be succeeded by Matiur Rehman Nizami.
Prof. Azam and Jamaate Islami opposed secession of East Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh and sided with Pakistan Army. He fled Dhaka before its fall and returned in 1980 to be given the Bangladeshi nationality by Ziaur Rahman regime. The Jamaat won 20 seats in 1991 election in alliance with Bangladesh National Party led by Khaleda Zia. The Party could win only three seats during 1996 elections. But it soon came out of the alliance. The National Awami League Government intends to try him for war crimes. The Jamaat in Bangladesh has been in forefront in opposing the foreign-funded NGOs which influence the government policies to a large extent.
International Leadership Award : Mohammad Yunus, Founder and chairman of the Bangladesh’s Grameena Bank has been chosen for the International Leadership Award by Jordan which instituted the award in the memory of late King Shah Hussain. He received the award from the new king Shah Abdullah in a ceremony held on November 15 coinciding with the 15th birth anniversary of Shah Hussain.
Appointed: Shyam Singh, Pakistan Sikh Leader, has been appointed as the new president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. Indian Sikh sources have alleged Shyam Singh to be an ISI mole. According to UNI, historian and an expert on Sikh Affairs Dr. Sangat Singh, Shyam, a resident of Multan, grew beard after 1980 and he belonged to a Sunni Muslim family. He earlier worked with the External Affairs Ministry of Pakistan. Sangat Singh said Shyam had not embraced Sikhism by 1980. The ruling Akali Dal (Badal) has suspected Shayam’s allegiance to Sikhism.
Library Award: Dr. Akram Ridha Mursi Juma has been adjudged the winner of the Sheikh Ali Bin Abdullah Al-Thani Library Award for its third year (2000). Qatar’s Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Abdullah Al-Marri announced the name of Dr. Akram for Qatari Riyal 75,000 award. Dr. Akram Ridha Mursi Jum’a was born in Egypt in 1959. The topic for the award was “The Muslim Family in the Contemporary World.”
The Sheikh Ali Al-Thani Library Trust for Research and Studies, is the first Qatari institution to offer such a cultural, intellectual award, with adjudication on the international level. The purpose is to encourage scientific research and discussion of important subjects by intellectuals and researchers, and consequently create a cadre of Muslim scholars in various specialties. The previous topic was “Environmental Issues: the Islamic Concept.”
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